Killafornia Dreaming

In 1988, Judith Eva Barsi was one of the most sought after child actors in Hollywood. But behind the scenes, her home life was a nightmare, wrought with violence, emotional, psychological, and physical abuse, culminating in her father wiping out his entire family with one final act of violence that left everyone wondering why.

In March of 2008, Ernest Scherer, Jr. and his wife Charlene were discovered beaten and stabbed to death inside their home in the very exclusive Castlewood Country Club in Pleasanton, California. The investigation revealed a number of potential persons of interest, but there was only one individual who police kept coming back to - the victims’ own son, Ernest the III. With a crime so brutal, nobody who knew the family could believe their own flesh and blood could have been responsible for doing such a thing. With a mountain of circumstantial evidence and virtually no physical evidence to speak of, would detectives be able to uncover the unthinkable truth?

In the picturesque enclave of Bixby Knolls in Long Beach, California, a shocking broad daylight murder took place. Suburban housewife and mother, Lynn Schockner was attacked right in her own backyard, her neck slashed by an alleged burglar. From the very start, something seemed off about the crime to investigators, and as it turned out, even the victim’s own 14 year old son knew there was more to this that a burglary gone bad. And they weren’t wrong. PROMOS from Minds of Madness and Evidence Locker

The Santos Linguisa Sausage Factory had been a fixture in the city of San Leandro, California since 1921. They produced a traditional Portuguese sausage using an secret family recipe from the old country and the business was handed down one generation after another. When the grandson of the founder died in 1993, he had no choice but to pass the beloved factory onto his middle son, someone he had no faith that he could carry on the family business and the family legacy…and he wasn’t wrong. Listen now, to the story of Stuart Alexander, and how he ran a generations old family business into he ground.

In the beginning of the early 90s, the world of hip hop saw the rise of artists like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Tupac Shakur, P. Diddy, Notorious BIG and more. It also spawned a feud between West Coast and East Coast rap artists, and one of the most well known figures at the center of it all was Death Row Records founder Marion ‘Suge’ Knight, whose tactics of intimidation, extortion, and violence would take him far in the industry, but would also be his downfall.

A short discussion about another miscarriage of justice, this time out of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. We explore the 2016 sexual assault of Donna Doe and the ridiculous plea bargain offered to her rapist.

Today’s story is going to be one about love, perhaps more like an obsession. In 1985, Archie McFarland, devoted husband and father, was leaving for work on a cold December morning, before the sun had even risen. In his driveway, he was stabbed 5 times by an unknown assailant. But his wife and his son seemed to know exactly who would have done this to Archie, but proving it would be much harder than anyone could imagine…

This is a story about neighbors…feuding neighbors. John Kenney and Elizabeth and Mel Grimes very much as equally accomplished as the next, but with a very, very different way of living their lives. John, the orderly military scientist with his PhD in engineering, Mel, a criminal defense attorney, but forever a hippie, with his VW Bus, his eclectic ornate yard, and his equally whimsical wife. John did not take well to the eye sore of a front yard he consider his neighbors to keep. Their feud would erupt into one final violent confrontation, putting an end to a years long conflict…all of it over a tiny patch of dirt in their common driveway.

**EXPLICIT LANGUAGE** In this special Vacation Series Bonus, we discuss the 2012 unsolved murder of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student, Faith Hedgepeth. With no shortage of persons of interest, and DNA left behind at the scene by the killer, the brutal rape and killing of Faith continues to confound investigators, the community, and Faith's family and loved ones. Thousands of people have been questioned and hundreds have submitted their DNA, yet the killer still eludes capture. Many feel whoever murdered Faith is within one degree of separation of some in her social circle, but he still remains unidentified and it leaves many wondering who could have done this.

We are taking a break from California Crime and traveling clear across the US to Hickory, North Carolina to discuss the disturbing and tragic murder of 10-year-old Zahra Clare Baker, a two time cancer survivor from Giru, Australia. Zahra moved to the US with her dad in 2008 after he met and married a so called Gothic Fairy named Elisa Fairchild. Little did he know this woman had a checkered past, a spotty criminal history, and a half dozen marriages prior to him. Voicemail bumper courtesy of Deborah in Southern California and promo from The Brew Crime Podcast

On December 15th, 1994, self-made millionaire and business man William McLaughlin was gunned down, shot six times in the upper torso in his own kitchen. With no forensic evidence tying anyone to the crime scene - no fingerprints, no DNA, no footprints, no murder weapons - detectives were faced with a difficult case to crack. Looking deeper into William’s personal life, they discovered he had been in a relationship with a woman named Nanette Johnston - a woman half his age. And when it was discovered she had an ex-NFL football player boyfriend on the side, they both quickly rose to the top of the suspect list in the murder of William McLaughlin.

In Episode 74, we mentioned a trial that was going on a few doors down from Officer William Leasure’s trial - the Trial of the Dalton Street raid. In this bonus episode, we take a look at that 1988 raid that is considered to be the precursor of what was to come - the beating of motorist Rodney King and the LAPD Rampart Division Scandal.

In 1986, LAPD officer William Leasure was sailing up the coast of California with a friend. They were on their way to sell a yacht his friend owned. As they pulled into the Marina in Richmond, California, they were met by Oakland Police Officers who were awaiting the arrival of the skipper of the yacht. They knew they were coming, because this yacht was stolen. What they didn’t expect was to find an LAPD officer on board, along for the ride. He was taken into custody, and when word got back to his department that he was suspected in a yacht thieving ring, little did they know what they actually had on their hands…could it be, one of their own was not only participating in this criminal enterprise, but was he involved in some even more nefarious criminal activity?

If you haven’t listened to Episode 73, please pause this, listen to that first, then come back to this, otherwise it won’t make as much sense. This is a follow up Addendum to Episode 73, The Tale of Stacey Barker. We are going over a couple of topics regarding the cases included in this episode that were discussed in the Facebook group, specifically the letter that Tom Findlay wrote to Susan Smith, as well as a discussion we had regarding mothers who kill vs. fathers who kill. Thank you to all the Facebook Group members who contributed to these two discussions.

The Patreon Exclusive Bonus this month is The Tale of the Jinx where we discuss the life and crimes of Robert Durst, who is currently sitting in a California jail awaiting trial for the 2000 murder of Susan Berman. If you are familiar with the case, or if you have listened to the Patreon Bonus, then you know he has seemingly left a wake of mysterious deaths and disappearances throughout his life. However, there are three other cases where his name has been floated as possibly having been involved those disappearances as well - Lynne Schulze, Karen Mitchell, and Kristen Modafferi. In this bonus, we are going to discuss the disappearance of those three young women and how their lives intersected with the Jinx.