True Crime Campfire

As Abe Lincoln once said—or possibly some guy named Peter Drucker, depends on who you ask—the best way to predict the future is to create it. But for a lot of us humans, that’s a little too loosey-goosey. We’re not big fans of the unknown, and we tend to seek out people who claim they can tell us what to expect from the future. Americans, for example, spend billions a year on psychics. A lot of these are legitimate businesspeople who genuinely want to provide counseling and comfort for their clients. But there’s also a bustling trade in psychic fraud—run by people who have no qualms about taking advantage of you at your most vulnerable and desperate. Today we’re gonna tell you about two of those cases. Case 1: The Mysterious Death of Seth Tobias. Case 2: Psychic Scammer Gina Marks Sources: New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/business/04tobias.html ABC News: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=4279324&page=1 New York Magazine: https://nymag.com/news/features/43914/ The Times: https://www.thetimes.com/article/hunt-for-tiger-the-go-go-boy-after-seth-tobiass-death-5n923qml8pf The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/12/bob-nygaard-private-investigator-psychic-fraud [https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/12/bob-nygaard-private-investigator-psychic-fraud] NBC: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/maryland-psychic-sentenced-to-6-years-for-scamming-clients/155294/ [https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/maryland-psychic-sentenced-to-6-years-for-scamming-clients/155294/] TV show "Pink Collar Crime," episode "The Psychic Didn't See Him Coming" Follow us, campers! Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire [https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire] https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/ [https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/] Facebook: True Crime Campfire Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079 [https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079] Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com MERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com [https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com/] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].

Some of the easiest people on the planet to fool are those who have a real high opinion of their own brains based on very little evidence. A classic con-artist trick is to make the mark think they’re the one in charge, they’re the one making the decisions. They don’t realize they’ve been taken until their bank balance is empty and they’ve signed away the deed to granddaddy’s farm. Sometimes they won’t even see it then, because that would mean facing up to some unpleasant realities about themselves. In this week’s story, the consequences of gullibility and manipulation are a lot heavier than financial ruin—three generations of a family have their lives torn to pieces over greed and a web of the darkest lies imaginable.  Sources: Daddy’s Girl by Clifford Irving  Court papers: https://casetext.com/case/ray-v-state-51 [https://casetext.com/case/ray-v-state-51] The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/02/26/true-confessions/718e2739-0997-4ac0-a551-d860a9f51b7f/ [https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1985/02/26/true-confessions/718e2739-0997-4ac0-a551-d860a9f51b7f/] Follow us, campers! Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire [https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire] https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/ [https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/] Facebook: True Crime Campfire Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079 [https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079] Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com MERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com [https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com/] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].

On June 10th, 1983, the decomposing body of a well-dressed man was found in a desolate canyon near Los Angeles. John Doe #94 would soon be identified as missing variety show producer Roy Radin. He'd last been seen after meeting with a mysterious woman in a gold dress. Her name was Lanie Jacobs.   Jacobs and Radin were obsessed with becoming Hollywood movie producers. And when their paths collided, it led them to a tantalizing film deal promising fame and fortune. But then, a twisted script unfolded, plunging them into a million-dollar cocaine and cash heist, a tangled web of lies, and ultimately – murder. The trail led investigators right to Hollywood's doorstep, linking former golden boy producer Robert Evans to the case and dredging up Radin's own troubled past.   But the case turned ice cold. It would take more than five years of dogged pursuit by the L.A. Sheriff’s Department detectives, a secret undercover witness, and another murder almost 3,000 miles from Hollywood – to unlock the truth.   This is the story of a doomed Hollywood partnership, a grisly murder and the search that stretched across the country for a killer – or killers.   From Wondery, and the team behind the hit series Hollywood & Crime: The Dating Game Killer, The Wonderland Murders, Death of Starlet, and the Execution of Bonny Lee Bakley comes a six part series that dives into the dark side of Hollywood through a shocking murder – fueled by ruthless ambition and desperate dreams. Co-hosted by Tracy Pattin and Josh Lucas.   Listen to Hollywood & Crime: The Cotton Club Murder: Wondery.fm/TCCM_TCC [https://Wondery.fm/TCCM_TCC] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].

When we left you at the end of Part 1, fourteen year old Steven Stayner had escaped from seven years of captivity and abuse at the hands of child predator Kenneth Parnell—and he’d rescued Parnell’s next intended victim, a little boy named Timmy White. The story made international headlines, and Steven Stayner became his hometown’s living legend. It was March 1980, both boys were back home safe and Kenneth Parnell was behind bars where he belonged, waiting to go to trial. It seemed like a happy ending. But the story doesn’t end there. The second half of the Stayner saga is even darker than the first. Justice is denied. Secrets come to light. And another member of the family lets his most depraved fantasies cross over to real life. Big thanks to Mike Moran of the podcast Confessional with Mike Moran for doing much of the work/research on this one and last week's!  Sources: Wikipedia: Cary Stayner A&E's American Justice, episode The Yosemite Killer The Crime Reel: Part 2 of The Troubled Lives of the Stayner Brothers Casefile (podcast): Yosemite Sightseer Murders Parts 1 and 2  CBS News: The Yosemite Murders SF Gate: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/defense-to-fight-for-stayner-s-life-lawyers-2820211.php Follow us, campers! Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire [https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire] https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/ [https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/] Facebook: True Crime Campfire Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079 [https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079] Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com MERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com [https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com/] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].

In classic literature—and in soap operas, too—there are a lot of families who become lightning rods for misfortune. Sometimes it really strains your suspension of disbelief—like, come on, one family could never go through this much tragedy. But every now and then, a family just seems to be haunted by something sinister. From February through July of 1999, the bodies of four women turned up around Yosemite National Park in California—all brutally murdered and mutilated. The killer was a handsome, likable guy named Cary Stayner, who confessed to the four murders once they had him in custody, and is suspected of quite a few more. And during his confession, the investigators realized why his name had seemed familiar to them. Cary was the brother of Steven Stayner, kidnapped by a pedophile in 1972, forced to change his name to Dennis and held captive for years, until one night in 1980 when he walked into a police station and said, “I know my first name is Steven.” That case captured the world, with books and documentaries covering Steven’s years-long ordeal and the courage of his escape. Now, nearly 20 years later, the Stayner family was once again in the throes of a nightmare. Would Cary have become a serial killer if his brother had never been kidnapped, or was that evil always lurking inside him? It’s a Shakespearean tragedy of a story, and we’ll be telling it in two parts. This is part one--the abduction of Steven Stayner. Big thanks to Mike Moran of the Confessional Podcast for doing much of the work/research on this one!  Sources: All That's Interesting: https://allthatsinteresting.com/steven-stayner Wikipedia: Kenneth Parnell The Crime Reel: Part 1 of 2: Steven Stayner. The Troubled Lives of the Stayner Brothers Casefile (podcast): Ep. 154, Steven Stayner This Is Monsters (podcast): The Story of Kenneth Parnell, the Kidnapping of Steven Stayner Follow us, campers! Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire [https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfire] https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/ [https://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/] Facebook: True Crime Campfire Instagram: https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079 [https://gramha.net/profile/truecrimecampfire/19093397079] Twitter: @TCCampfire https://twitter.com/TCCampfire Email: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.com MERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com [https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com/] Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support [https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss].