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Violent Ends

402 episodes - English - Latest episode: 6 months ago - ★★★★★ - 585 ratings

Unique tales of true crime, dark history, and the paranormal. Host Jenn Carpenter takes the cases she covers seriously. Herself? Not so much. (Formerly known as So Dead.)

True Crime Comedy true crime paranormal michigan history so dead true crime podcast paranormal podcast michigan podcast michigan true crime michigan murder
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Episodes

S5 Ep110: The Cabin

November 08, 2023 05:01 - 43 minutes

For nearly a month, a picturesque cabin on northern Lake Michigan hid a ghastly secret. The bodies of wealthy ad executive Dick Robison, his wife Shirley, and their four children lay waiting for someone to find them following a brutal attack on a summer afternoon. From the moment a caretaker stumbled upon the murder scene while investigating reports of a foul odor coming from the property, nothing would ever be the same in the small town of Good Hart. 

S5 Ep109: Ghosted 5.0

October 31, 2023 20:30 - 40 minutes

From haunted neighborhoods built atop cemeteries to sweet afterlife connections and more, our Halloween episode once again features listener stories. Violent Ends is sponsored by BetterHelp.  To learn more about microdosing THC, visit microdose.com and enter code violentends for free shipping and 30% off your first order.

S5 Ep108: Black Widow

October 16, 2023 00:55 - 35 minutes

In 1903 Chicago, a peculiar murder unfolded on the city's south side. Despite her insistence that a burglar broke in and shot her husband in bed, authorities immediately suspected Jane Quinn, who was covered from head to toe in blood. And that was BEFORE they found out about the pile of dead bodies Jane left behind when she fled Michigan years earlier. Violent Ends is sponsored by BetterHelp. 

S5 Ep107: Invisible Strings

October 01, 2023 15:35 - 52 minutes

In 1981, a 23-year-old woman was dragged kicking and screaming from her East Lansing apartment in front of an entire building full of onlookers. In 1982, a rebellious teen vanished while hitchhiking in a Detroit suburb. In 1983, almost exactly one year later, another pretty brunette teenager disappeared while hitchhiking in the same neighborhood. Three years, three murdered women, three cold cases. One would become the first case in Ingham County to use DNA as evidence. One would be solved t...

S5 Ep106: The Four

September 14, 2023 02:58 - 1 hour

On a Monday afternoon in May of 1930, the world's first set of identical quadruplets were born in Lansing, Michigan- even though nobody knew they were coming. Instant celebrities, the Morlok quads were treated like a sideshow attraction by the community that insisted on naming them and claiming them as their own. While the girls were paraded around the country in matching dresses performing adorable song-and-dance routines as they racked up Guiness World Records, their sweet smiles hid ghast...

S5 Ep105: The Clown

July 19, 2023 04:01 - 57 minutes

When a young boy vanished from a small Northern Michigan town, authorities believed he'd run away with the circus. As outlandish as that sounded, it was more plausible than the awful truth- that he'd fallen victim to a killer clown hiding in plain sight. 

S5 Ep104: Manor of Death

July 05, 2023 04:01 - 39 minutes

It's been 100 years since a Lansing socialite was murdered inside the brand new manor her politician husband built for her. Was she the victim of a traveling carnival run by outlaws? Targeted by an enemy of her husband's? Or was the police department's wide-reaching witch hunt an attempt to cover up something much more diabolical?  

S5 Ep103: Ice Princess

June 21, 2023 04:01 - 1 hour

The only thing they had in common was their love of the ice. One was from the east coast, the other from the west coast. One was blonde haired and blue eyed, while the other resembled Snow White with her fair skin and dark features. One came from a loving family, while the other suffered horrors no child should have to endure. When their paths collided on the road to Olympic Gold, the result was one of the biggest scandals the world of sports has ever seen. MICRODOSE GUMMIES:  For 30% off y...

S5 Ep102: Ripper

June 07, 2023 04:01 - 55 minutes

Since opening its doors in 1850, The University of Michigan's School of Medicine has been one of the most prestigious medical schools in the country. But not all of its pupils perfected the art of saving lives. Some of them went on to do the exact opposite. In 1882, two men with similar names and matching handlebar mustaches entered the program. One went on to become America's first serial killer, while the other became the subject of the most infamous transatlantic manhunt in history. Both ...

S5 Ep101: Starships

April 19, 2023 17:33 - 1 hour

On March 8, 1994, residents in 42 of Michigan's 82 counties reported seeing an unidentified flying object in the night sky. One of the best-documented UFO sightings in history, a lighted chrome aircraft with capabilities beyond any technology known to man was spotted hovering over the Great Lakes by law enforcement agencies, pilots, government officials, scientists, and hundreds of frightened civilians. To this day, no answers have been provided as to what happened that night. The crazy part...

S5 Ep100: The Hundredth

April 05, 2023 04:01 - 1 hour

In honor of 100 episodes, we celebrated with a live show at The Robin Theatre. Special guests included Michigan State University's School of Criminal Justice, author Rod Sadler, and the co-host with the most, our old friend Dani Fairman.

S5 Ep99: Roar

March 22, 2023 04:02 - 1 hour

What do America's original aviatrix, the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, a seductive government spy, and an unorthodox civil rights icon have in common? They were all trailblazing women from Michigan whose lives ended tragically. Their stories deserve to be remembered.

S5 Ep98: Bamba

March 09, 2023 15:15 - 1 hour

It was 35 below, the wind was howling, and the snow was waist-deep when three young men burst through the door of Hotel St. James in the remote town of Ironwood, Michigan during the early morning hours of Feb 1, 1959. They were inadequately dressed for the dangerous weather, disheveled, and visibly shaken from a near-death experience. Even still…there was something about them. They were handsome. Charming. Special, even. That much, the townsfolk knew. What they didn’t know, couldn’t have kno...

S5 Ep97: Run. Hide. Fight.

February 21, 2023 13:15 - 1 hour

An episode I never fathomed I'd have to record, but I suppose was inevitable. Because when it comes to mass shootings, it's no longer a question of "if," but "when." This is what it's like when it happens at home. Donate to the Spartan Strong Fund HERE. Turn your food waste into dirt with the press of a button with Lomi. Use the code VIOLENT to save $50 at lomi.com/VIOLENT. Read more about what foods can be used with Lomi HERE.

S5 Ep96: Fugitive

February 07, 2023 05:01 - 1 hour

With a blood lust so strong no prison could hold him, a Michigan man preyed on a coastal California town still reeling from the Bundy murders. And even with the world's most infamous serial killer behind bars, pretty young girls with long, brown hair parted down the middle still weren't safe. Turn your food waste into dirt with the press of a button with Lomi. Use the code VIOLENT to save $50 at lomi.com/VIOLENT. Read more about what foods can be used with Lomi HERE.

Season Five Trailer

January 20, 2023 13:43 - 4 minutes

Season five begins February 7th! Listen in for a big announcement.

Wondery Presents: The Vanished

November 17, 2022 01:38 - 7 minutes

The Vanished is a true crime podcast that explores the stories of those who have gone missing. The Vanished goes beyond conventional news reports to take a deep dive into the story of a different missing person each week.  Host Marissa Jones brings you exclusive interviews with family members, friends, law enforcement and experts on mainstream cases, as well as little known ones. Listen in to hear what The Vanished will uncover next: http://wondery.fm/thevanished.

S4 Ep95: Holy

November 08, 2022 05:01 - 1 hour

The news was shocking. Occult obsessed cult leader Benny Evangelist, his wife, and their four young children had been murdered in their lavish Detroit home by an ax-wielding maniac. Beheaded. Dismembered. As police ran down the long list of suspects, an unfathomable possibility emerged. Was Benny himself behind the murders? The 1929 St. Aubin Street Massacre is one of Detroit’s oldest and most notorious cold cases, but it is not alone in its tragedy. In 1990, it happened again. And while the...

S4 Ep94: Ghosted 4.0

October 25, 2022 22:05 - 35 minutes

Listener ghost stories, including the haunting of a town with a tragic past. 

S4 Ep93: The Tower

October 12, 2022 13:52 - 46 minutes

As the Great Depression sunk its teeth into America, a Lansing man's fortune was on the rise- literally. Auto magnate R.E. Olds built a decadent sky scraper, the tallest building in Michigan's capital city, to house his bank. But less than a year after the Olds Tower opened its doors, blood and bullets tarnished its immaculate reputation. What drove a pillar of the community to a shooting rampage? Deak Mead wasn't motivated by money. He was after revenge. To pledge Creepy Kawaii's Mothman K...

S4 Ep92: Photograph

September 27, 2022 17:35 - 45 minutes

When a young woman was found lying gravely injured on the side of the road, a mystery that would take nearly two decades to solve began to unfold. Who was she, really? And who was the strange older man claiming to be her husband? This episode's sponsor is Magic Mind. Visit magicmind.co/sodead and use code SoDead20 to save 20% off a single purchase, or 40% off a subscription!

True Crime Story Time: Chapter Eight

September 21, 2022 17:08 - 8 minutes

In Depression-era Cleveland, a madman stalked the streets of the Kingsbury Run neighborhood, leaving body parts in his wake.

S4 Ep91: Scrappers

September 13, 2022 04:01 - 40 minutes

In the late 1970s, an FBI task force targeted a massive interstate auto theft ring headquartered in Mid-Michigan. Building their case proved difficult, though, because their key witnesses kept meeting grim fates.

S4 Ep90: Riot

July 26, 2022 04:01 - 51 minutes

The summer of 1967 was an especially violent one in the United States. Known as "the long, hot summer," there were 159 race riots in America over the course of just a few months, the deadliest of which occurred in Detroit in late July. What led to the deaths of nearly fifty citizens, mostly at the hands of law enforcement officials called in to quell the violence? And what really happened inside The Algiers Motel?

True Crime Story Time: Chapter Seven

July 19, 2022 04:01 - 10 minutes

When a beloved wife, mother, and grandmother suddenly fell ill and died, her family was shocked to learn she'd been intentionally poisoned. Even more shocking was the identity of her murderer.

S4 Ep89: You Go

July 12, 2022 04:01 - 38 minutes

A charismatic waitress in a Yugo headed north to visit the man she hoped to marry. A young father in a Bronco driving south, back toward home. Though their paths did not cross in life, their fates are forever linked by the tragedy that befell them both on the Mackinac Bridge, one of the world's longest (and most treacherous) suspension bridges.

True Crime Story Time: Chapter Six

July 05, 2022 21:39 - 13 minutes

A sideshow performer, an unknown serial killer, and an ice skating chimpanzee. Luke Karamazov seems like outlandish fiction at times, but is the true story of the Ranes brothers from Kalamazoo, Michigan, the only serial killer siblings in American history, And soon, it will be a movie starring Zachary Quinto and Jacob Elordi.

S4 Ep88: Delicate Conditions

June 28, 2022 17:42 - 55 minutes

A disgraced Lansing doctor out to make a quick buck by performing "illegal oprations" left countless bodies in his wake. A socialite unable to live with the shame of being an unwed mother took her own life in a Charlotte hotel room. A Benton Harbor farmboy felt murder was the only way out when his flapper girlfriend wound up pregnant. This was the harsh (but not uncommon) reality of the early 1900s, when abortion was illegal in Michigan. Are we headed there again?

S4 Ep87: 87- Creeper

June 22, 2022 12:49 - 44 minutes

When a leisurely Sunday drive near the Michigan/Indiana border turned into a scene out of a horror movie for Ray and Marie Thornton, their lives were changed forever. Their experience, quite literally, inspired a horror movie. But the true story was so much more terrifying than anything Hollywood could conjure up.

S4 Ep87: Creeper

June 22, 2022 12:49 - 44 minutes

When a leisurely Sunday drive near the Michigan/Indiana border turned into a scene out of a horror movie for Ray and Marie Thornton, their lives were changed forever. Their experience, quite literally, inspired a horror movie. But the true story was so much more terrifying than anything Hollywood could conjure up.

S4 Ep86: The Box

April 26, 2022 04:01 - 32 minutes

In 1998, the body of a young boy was found beneath a billboard along a North Carolina highway. With very little to go on, authorities were not able to determine who the boy was, or who killed him. But one investigator was determined to solve the case no matter how long it took. So he kept the case file in a box beneath his desk, right in his way, so that he bumped his leg on it every time he turned in his chair. The box never let him forget, and he watched and waited for the scientific advan...

S4 Ep86: 86- The Box

April 26, 2022 04:01 - 32 minutes

In 1998, the body of a young boy was found beneath a billboard along a North Carolina highway. With very little to go on, authorities were not able to determine who the boy was, or who killed him. But one investigator was determined to solve the case no matter how long it took. So he kept the case file in a box beneath his desk, right in his way, so that he bumped his leg on it every time he turned in his chair. The box never let him forget, and he watched and waited for the scientific advan...

True Crime Story Time: Chapter Five

April 19, 2022 15:18 - 7 minutes

Promising wellness and everlasting youth, Dr. Linda Hazzard lured wealthy patients to her "health retreat" in Washington state. Once she'd captured her prey, she held patients hostage and bled them dry- literally and figuratively. 

S4 Ep85: Bad Apples

April 12, 2022 13:31 - 1 hour

In the early 1900s, the auto industry reigned supreme in Lansing. But another, more deadly industry was making moves in the shadows. Fruit. When two rival fruit companies owned by Italian immigrants with strong ties to La Cosa Nostra went to war, no one was safe. Using fruit stands as a front throughout the city, a secret battle raged for years- contract killings, bombings, murder, extortion. Lansing's Fruit War was among the Capital City's best kept secrects...until now.

S4 Ep85: 85- Bad Apples

April 12, 2022 13:31 - 1 hour

In the early 1900s, the auto industry reigned supreme in Lansing. But another, more deadly industry was making moves in the shadows. Fruit. When two rival fruit companies owned by Italian immigrants with strong ties to La Cosa Nostra went to war, no one was safe. Using fruit stands as a front throughout the city, a secret battle raged for years- contract killings, bombings, murder, extortion. Lansing's Fruit War was among the Capital City's best kept secrects...until now.

True Crime Story Time: Chapter Four

April 05, 2022 18:05 - 20 minutes

What led two young brothers from Chechnya to commit one of the most shocking terrorist attacks in American history? Acclaimed journalist Masha Gessen aims to answer that question.

S4 Ep84: 84- The Call

March 29, 2022 04:01 - 32 minutes

The young caller's voice waivered only slightly as she detailed a ghastly scene to the 911 operator. It almost sounded like a prank, too wild to believe. But what happened in the house on Sunnydale Street was very real, and ultimately worse than anyone could have imagined.

S4 Ep84: The Call

March 29, 2022 04:01 - 32 minutes

The young caller's voice waivered only slightly as she detailed a ghastly scene to the 911 operator. It almost sounded like a prank, too wild to believe. But what happened in the house on Sunnydale Street was very real, and ultimately worse than anyone could have imagined.

True Crime Story Time: Chapter Three

March 22, 2022 04:01 - 9 minutes

When a young couple was attacked on a Lover's Lane one stormy Halloween night, the pressure was on police to arrest someone. So they did. 

S4 Ep83: Lawman

March 15, 2022 04:01 - 34 minutes

The name Tom Toaz was well-known in Mid-Michigan at the turn of the 20th century. He was a celebrated lawman, infamous for throwing more citizens behind bars than all of the other constables combined. He had a hand in all of the scandalous, headline-making cases in Eaton County in the late 18 and early 1900s, but no case he was involved in was quite as scandalous as his own.

S4 Ep83: 83- Lawman

March 15, 2022 04:01 - 34 minutes

The name Tom Toaz was well-known in Mid-Michigan at the turn of the 20th century. He was a celebrated lawman, infamous for throwing more citizens behind bars than all of the other constables combined. He had a hand in all of the scandalous, headline-making cases in Eaton County in the late 18 and early 1900s, but no case he was involved in was quite as scandalous as his own.

S4: True Crime Story Time: Chapter Two

March 08, 2022 05:01 - 7 minutes

When a young woman is found dead in her Tijuana hotel room, authorities have more questions than answers. Mainly- why doesn't the photo on the driver's license match the body on the floor?

S4 Ep82: 82- The Triangle

March 01, 2022 05:01 - 48 minutes

Out on the open water, there is a hotspot of unusual activity- ships disappearing in broad daylight, planes vanishing into thin air, unexplainable weather phenomena. Not the infamous Bermuda Triangle, but a similar danger much closer to home- the Lake Michigan Triangle.

S4 Ep82: The Triangle

March 01, 2022 05:01 - 48 minutes

Out on the open water, there is a hotspot of unusual activity- ships disappearing in broad daylight, planes vanishing into thin air, unexplainable weather phenomena. Not the infamous Bermuda Triangle, but a similar danger much closer to home- the Lake Michigan Triangle.

S4: True Crime Story Time: Chapter One

February 22, 2022 05:00 - 12 minutes

When a serial killer was sent to the gallows in Victorian-era London, his infamous last words were, "I am Jack the..." before the noose snapped his neck. Were the Lambeth Poisoner and Jack the Ripper one in the same?

S4 Ep81: Maneater

February 15, 2022 05:00 - 1 hour

Born just outside Detroit to a single teenage mother and a violent criminal, Aileen Wuornos had the cards stacked against her from birth. She was raised in a house of horrors, amidst rumors of incest and unspeakable abuse. A child sex worker who gave birth at the age of 15, Aileen lived in the woods behind her family home after she was kicked out by her sadistic grandfather. And that was just the beginning of the cruelty and abuse Aileen would face in her 46 years on Earth. Listen in for mor...

S4 Ep81: 81- Maneater

February 15, 2022 05:00 - 1 hour

Born just outside Detroit to a single teenage mother and a violent criminal, Aileen Wuornos had the cards stacked against her from birth. She was raised in a house of horrors, amidst rumors of incest and unspeakable abuse. A child sex worker who gave birth at the age of 15, Aileen lived in the woods behind her family home after she was kicked out by her sadistic grandfather. And that was just the beginning of the cruelty and abuse Aileen would face in her 46 years on Earth. Listen in for mor...

Bonus: Ghostface

January 11, 2022 05:01 - 18 minutes

In celebration of the new Scream movie coming to theaters this week, here is a Patreon bonus episode from a couple years back exploring the true story behind the inspiration for the Scream movies.

S3 Ep80: 80- Rampage

November 16, 2021 05:01 - 54 minutes

On February 20, 2016, the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan found itself under siege. From a father/son duo out car shopping to a group of friends meeting for dinner, a madman was methodically gunning down unsuspecting citizens with no rhyme or reason. When the family man responsible for the rampage was apprehended, authorities were not prepare for the story he told them. Did Jason Dalton simply snap on that winter afternoon? Or was he possessed by evil, as he claimed?

S3 Ep80: Rampage

November 16, 2021 05:01 - 54 minutes

On February 20, 2016, the city of Kalamazoo, Michigan found itself under siege. From a father/son duo out car shopping to a group of friends meeting for dinner, a madman was methodically gunning down unsuspecting citizens with no rhyme or reason. When the family man responsible for the rampage was apprehended, authorities were not prepare for the story he told them. Did Jason Dalton simply snap on that winter afternoon? Or was he possessed by evil, as he claimed?