Episode 14. The Villisca Axe Murders In 1912, an entire family and their two guests were murdered while sleeping in their beds. The culprit was a vicious killer wielding an axe and a motive that we will never know. This brutal event left their town forever infamous. Ttoday, it has become a hot spot for ghost hunters and paranormal investigators - leaving the lives of the victims as nothing more than background noise to the macabre story. Sources: the Smithsonian, the Daily Crate City, VilliscaIowa.com, Murdered In Their Beds: The History. & Hauntings of the Villisca Ax Murders, the Gazette (Cedar Rapids, Iowa), the La Crosse Tribune, the Denison Review, Ghost Adventures, the Witchita Beacon, Iowa Cold Cases, Des Moines Register, Man from the Train, MSN.com, Adams County Free Press, Pierre Weekly Free Press, Chanute Daily Tribune, Quad City Times, Abilene Daily Chronicle

Episode 13. Yingying Zhang In 2017, a young Chinese student studying abroad in the US abruptly disappeared after missing a bus. Authorities investigating her disappearance discovered that a man on campus noticed her distress and offered her a ride to her destination - making him the last person to ever see her alive.Sources: the Central District of Illinois official complaint (United States of America V. Brendt Christensen), Trial Transcripts, the Daily Journal, the Chicago Tribune, ABCNews, NewsChannel 20 (ABC), WGNTV, Justice.Gov, WTTWNews , CBS Chicago, Southern Illinoisan, Fox Illinois, SCMP, Daily Illini

In 1976 and 1977, a series of child abductions and murders rocked several Detroit, Michigan suburbs. The families that were left devastated in the aftermath are still fighting for justice today, nearly 4 and a half decades after the fact. With several compelling suspects, authorities believe that it's only a matter of time before advances in forensic testing identifies the person responsible for these cruel murders.Sources: Detroit Free Press, The Times Herald, the Ludington Daily News, NCJRS Documents, WXYZ, Hometownlife, CleveScene, Fox2Detroit, Medium, People.com, Associated Content, NYTimes, the Oakland Press, A Father’s Story (Barry King’s Blog), Catherine Broad (Blog of Timothy King’s sister), Unsolved Child Murders by Emily Thompson, SacBee.com, Helen Dagner

Hey Capable listeners, The show is still re-launching closer to the end of summer or in early fall but I’ve been moved to put together this episode for a fellow podcaster, Eric Carter-Landin, who hosts the wonderful podcast, “True Consequences”. This special episode is about his sweet little brother Jacob, and the justice that he and his family deserve.  Petition: Justice for JacobSources for this episode:Eric Carter-Landin @TrueConsequencesJacob's case file.

Hey everyone,You may have noticed the show hit a bit of a snag around the beginning of March. Well, my life hit a roadblock in the wake of the Corona virus hitting the US pretty hard. Just like all of you, my future income was uncertain as well as what my new daily life was going to look like. I had to face that the show was going to be on pause as I had to budget a bit more tightly to get by. Things like Adobe Audition, the music for the show, the hosting even books and some sites to research these cases cost money out of my own pocket.Don’t worry, I’m not here to say I need your money especially when so many people in the world need it now more than ever. Money for me to relaunch isn’t so much of a problem for me now, so I’m getting back on board.You also may have noticed that I took a lot of my old episodes down. That’s because Capable is re-launching closer to the fall. I’ve been spending a lot of time researching and re-writing and making some changes in older scripts and all old episodes, including my shorter bonus episodes are being re-recorded and edited more tightly.This however, will take some time! My plan is to have a big back-log of episodes to release on a set schedule so that should anything like this happen again, I won’t be left without anything to release while it gets settled. I hope you’ll stick with me in the meantime! I’m still at CapablePodcast on Twitter, Facebook and on Instagram! You can also email me at capablepod@gmail.com! I’m writing a lot and looking for new cases and topics to cover all the time and would love your suggestions or to just chat about these cases with in general.I’ll announce an official re-launch date as soon as I feel I have a solid plan in front of me. I’m working on it every day, so it won’t be long now.Thank you all again for your support.

In 2011, a local Florida man was ambushed while taking a shower in his Jupiter, Florida home. The two other people in the house at the time happened to be his ex-wife and their son. As the investigation progressed, both mother and son claimed they were innocent while pointing the finger at one another. Each had motive and the means, however, only one was arrested and tried - twice. Resources: Court Records (Appeal Documents), CBSnews, 48 Hours, Super News World, WPTV, Sun-Sentinel, Palm Beach Post

 This is my first “What’s Happening Now” bonus episode for all of my regular (and brand new!) listeners. These bonus episodes will be released on the 16th and last day of each month unless stated otherwise, that’s twice a month! 

What are “What’s Happening Now” episodes? They’re episodes where I discuss true crimes that have happened within the previous two weeks of the episode. Obviously, I can’t cover every crime but I will be covering new stories  that I find interesting from all over the world. You can help me too! Send me a DM on Instagram or Twitter @capablepodcast if you want me to include a breaking story that you find interesting. If your suggested case is included, you’ll get a shoutout on the show. To discuss these cases with me and other listeners, join my facebook group: Capable: A True Crime Podcast.

 

Show note resources/credit:

10tvnews, cbs news, cnn.com, yahoo news, nbc news, nytimes, huffingtonpost

This episode is Part 2 in my 2 part series about the Wineville Chicken Coop murders. I highly suggest listening to part one if you haven’t already, before proceeding with this episode. I also want to let you know, that in pretty much all of the resources out there on this subject, one of Stewart’s victims is frequently and primarily referred to as “the Mexican boy” or the “Headless Mexican”. As I wrote part two of this story, it started to bother me because it felt very impersonal and almost cold to refer to a victim in this manner. So, in this episode, he’ll be referred to as John Doe instead.For an inside look at the Wineville Chicken Coop murders, check out and follow my instagram at capablepodcast. I’ve posted pictures of the farm, the victims, items the cops found in their investigation and other people involved in this story.Resources used for this episode: The Road Out of Hell by Anthony Flacco, Nothing is Strange With You by James Jeffrey Paul, New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Whittier Daily News

 In between 1926 and 1928, a series of abductions and murders of young boys occurred in Riverside County, California in a town called Wineville. The killer was a sadistic psychopath, whose own mother enabled his behavior. She was so devoted to him, that she took part in one of the murders and tried to help cover up the others. This killer would eventually be taken down by his own niece, a woman whose brother had spent years suffering from the abuse inflicted upon him by their uncle and very own grandmother.Resources used for this episode: The Road Out of Hell by Anthony Flacco, Nothing is Strange With You by James Jeffrey Paul, New York Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Whittier Daily News

On the morning of April 22nd, 2016, police officers in Piketon, Ohio discovered that eight members of a single family had been shot execution-style and killed overnight, while they slept in their beds. The killings occurred in four different homes all within miles of one another. Their deaths triggered what became Ohio’s largest homicide investigation in the state’s history. Click: Rhoden & Wagner relationship treeResources used for this case: the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Columbus Dispatch, Fox Channel 9, New York Times, Dayton Daily News