Sword and Scale

By Sword and Scale

Sword and Scale is a weekly true crime podcast covering the dark underworld of crime and the criminal justice system’s response to it. The first episode launched January 1st, 2014 and feature stories of murder, abduction, rape, and even more bizarre forms of crime. It’s the purest form of true-crime where the raw uncensored audio tells the story. Everything from 911 calls to court testimony, interviews with victims and sometimes with perpetrators give listeners a 360 degree look at the seedy und

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Episodes

53:24

Episode 370

Jennifer Dulos, an upper-class mom of five, vanished from Connecticut on a spring morning in 2019. Two women, both from privilege, both connected to the same man, would find themselves on opposite sides of what came next. One walked away. The other s

59:39

Episode 368

When 33-year-old Lashaun Keith’s body is discovered in a remote Michigan hay field, detectives have almost nothing to go on. There are no eyewitnesses and no clear suspects. All they find is a single glove. Sixteen months later, that glove points the

1:11:41

Episode 366

In April of 2024, 25-year-old Megan Bodiford went missing. The search for answers would uncover a violent crime hidden in plain sight and reveal how the signs of danger were there all along.

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1:14:52

Episode 364

The British Club was a close circle of English expats in Fleming Island, Florida. They were friends who looked out for one another like family. So when 65-year-old Sue Mauldin suddenly vanished, they knew something was wrong. What followed was a desp

1:17:45

Episode 363

A quiet evening in Washington City, Utah, ended in gunfire inside the Bailey family home. Gail and Joseph Bailey were executed. Their son and daughter-in-law barely escaped through a window. What followed was a sprawling manhunt through the desert ed

1:11:15

Episode 362

In Delray Beach, Florida, a routine traffic stop led police to a young man covered in blood. By the next morning, a body had been discovered. What followed was a tense interrogation — and a motive that felt disturbingly small compared to the violence

58:39

Episode 360

13-year-old Madeline Soto vanishes on what should have been an ordinary school morning in Kissimmee, Florida. She’s dropped off just a block away, and nothing about it feels unusual. She walks off, heading toward school… and disappears. By the aftern

1:10:40

Episode 358

When 25-year-old biomedical engineer Jonathan Amerault disappeared, it felt like another one of his hiking trips had gone horribly wrong. But the scene in the woods, and the female co-worker found beside his brutalized body, told a much more sinister

1:11:15

Episode 357

On a cold April afternoon in Milwaukee, two men walking along the Lake Michigan shoreline make a gruesome discovery: a human leg tangled in the weeds below a bluff. Within days, more body parts start surfacing across the city, and even across state l

1:10:25

Episode 356

In 2008, University of Wisconsin–Madison student Brittany Zimmermann was murdered in her apartment in the middle of the day, and then the trail went cold. An unlikely informant leads the police to search for two mystery men, a theory that would steer

58:14

Episode 355

When Virgil and Shirley Best were found dead in their home, investigators expected a familiar explanation. What followed instead was an investigation defined by uncertainty and a motive that challenged the idea that violence always comes from clear i

1:13:56

Episode 354

In 2022, when 57-year-old Harold Allen was found dead in his Indiana home, the case was ruled natural. Nearly a year later, a brazen burglary and a string of buried messages bring detectives back to the same address and to Marsha Allen, the woman who

1:14:56

Episode 352

Beloved father and prominent attorney, Gary Farris, should have been safe on his own land. But in July 2018, he vanished from his family’s rural dream property, and a smoldering burn pile would unravel everything they thought they knew about their ho

1:23:27

Episode 350

In 2016, 22-year-old Cati Blauvelt was found stabbed to death in the basement of an abandoned house. The search for her killer would uncover a story of control, deception, and betrayal — and reveal how one man turned trust into a weapon.

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1:13:18

Episode 348

When 43-year-old Diane Holik was found dead inside her Austin home, homicide investigators were left with more questions than answers. Diane had no enemies. There was no apparent reason for anyone to want her dead. But as detectives dug deeper, they

59:39

Episode 347

In March 2015, ninety-four-year-old Marie Belcastro was found brutally murdered in her home on Cherry Street in Niles, Ohio. Adored by her family and neighbors, she was known for her humor, generosity, and the simple kindness she extended to those ar

1:00:18

Episode 346

Seventeen-year-old Collin Griffith called 911 in a panic, begging for help. Minutes later, deputies arrived to find his mother bleeding in the kitchen and Collin calm, almost detached. His story of self-defense unraveled quickly, leading investigator

58:17

Episode 344

On a cold March evening in 2023, police in Englewood, Colorado responded to a 911 call from 81-year-old Reginald Maclaren. Inside his upscale apartment, they uncovered a scene so brutal, it would briefly dominate headlines before vanishing just as qu

1:06:29

Episode 342

In a quiet Ohio suburb where families mow their lawns and kids ride bikes on the sidewalks, police uncover a bloody scene: two decomposing bodies, Regina Capobianco and her friend John Mann, buried beneath trash inside a modest home. As investigators

1:00:05

Episode 341

When Sean Lannon arrived at his uncle Mike’s house in March 2021, it appeared to be the start of a family tragedy. But, as investigators investigated further, a much darker story started to come to light - one that spanned across states and years, pr

1:12:24

Episode 340

In the quiet backroads of Dallas County, Missouri, investigators uncovered a nightmare hidden in plain sight. Cassidy Rainwater, a young woman whose search for stability led her to a remote cabin. What seemed at first like an isolated disappearance s

1:07:57

Episode 338

In East Cleveland, Ohio, Diane Madison - a mother and grandmother - was also a woman remembered fondly by her neighbors. In 2019, she woke to a knife at her throat, and the assailant was her very own grandson, Jalen Plummer. Years earlier, another tr

1:24:19

Episode 336

Rebekah Gould was young, beautiful, and murdered in a quiet Arkansas town. Her case haunted the internet for years—until a confession surfaced. But instead of answers, it raised a far darker question: what if the truth is still being hidden?

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55:53

Episode 334

A young couple seemed to be building a quiet life together in a small Texas town. But everything changed when 21-year-old Anggy Diaz was found brutally murdered. What followed was a maze of grief, confusion, and unanswered questions, leaving two fami

1:16:26

Episode 333

When 46-year-old Victoria Schafer was killed by a falling log at a popular Ohio state park, it first appeared to be a tragic accident — until investigators uncovered the truth. What followed was a tangled web of lies, teenage recklessness, and a crim

1:11:12

Episode 332

In August 2000, eighteen-year-old Jessica Currin was found burned behind a middle school in Mayfield, Kentucky. The case went cold until a determined homemaker named Susan Galbreath decided she could solve it herself. Against all odds, she did what p

1:06:48

Episode 331

When 65-year-old Kenneth Reece returned to his quiet farmhouse, he found a nightmare waiting: a decapitated body in his living room and his estranged son, Kenny McBride, claiming ignorance. But once detectives uncovered the victim’s head, the gruesom

1:25:48

Episode 330

In October 2016, a teenage girl was found brutally murdered along a jogging trail in St. Joseph, Missouri. She was naked, stabbed repeatedly, and her throat was slashed. As investigators dug into the case, they uncovered a disturbing web of delusion,

1:08:47

Episode 328

In a quiet Ohio town shaped by coal and tradition, Brad McGarry is found dead in his basement. At first, it looks like a break-in. But as detectives dig deeper, they uncover a complex friendship, a hidden relationship, and a web of lies that unravels

58:01

Episode 327

When Kajavia Globe disappeared, her family’s worst fears came true in a city hardened by loss. As frustration with police mounted, the community - neighbors, a sanitation worker, a mother who refused to give up - kept pushing forward. In the end, jus

1:16:51

Episode 326

A night of celebration at a remote cabin takes a horrifying turn when a fight breaks out and a young father steps in to calm things down. Within moments, the party descends into chaos, and a single act of violence changes lives forever.

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1:10:51

Episode 325

17-year-old Halia Culbertson and 18-year-old Bryanna Baronzinni went from friends to enemies over the course of a few months. Then, it all ended in a single, fatal fight. But did the person who set this tragic murder in motion walk away unscathed?

G

1:04:04

Episode 324

In the mountain valley town of Questa, New Mexico, a group of teenagers spent a summer afternoon the way so many do: unsupervised, a little bored, and pushing boundaries. But by nightfall, 13-year-old Amber Archuleta was dead. What followed was a tan

1:09:17

Episode 322

It was a quiet July day in Bellevue, Washington, until a hail of gunfire shattered the calm. Outside an apartment complex, 48-year-old Baron Li lay on the pavement, riddled with nine bullets. As the shooter vanished, an investigation started - one th

1:01:26

Episode 321

When 41-year-old Erika Huff opened her home to a man in need, she believed she was doing the right thing, but that simple act of kindness would cost her everything. Erika’s generosity was repaid with unthinkable violence, leaving her dead, her mother

1:14:44

Episode 320

When a homeless woman in Anchorage finds a discarded SD card, she hopes it holds music. Instead, she uncovers something far more disturbing - graphic videos documenting the torture and murder of a woman later identified as 30-year-old Kathleen Henry.

1:25:09

Episode 318

When 27-year-old Jamie Haggard vanished from her Kenmore, WA home in June 2016, she was just another name added to the long list of missing people in King County. Eventually, weeks turned into months. After several dead ends, sifting suspects, and bo

1:12:52

Episode 316

When a traffic accident in Georgia led to a deadly confrontation, the line between heroism and vigilante justice blurred. A 21-year-old woman took matters into her own hands, but was she trying to help—or hunting down a man who never posed a threat?

1:14:03

Episode 315

At just 16 years old, Daniel Gore had already fallen through the cracks. While homeless in Beaverton, Oregon, he kept mostly to the confines of his tent in the woods while looking inward for a sense of belonging. Survival on the fringes wasn’t easy -

1:13:45

Episode 314

When a butchered, bloody man was found by the Tri-Rail train station in Lake Worth, Florida, everyone assumed he had been hit by a train. But when police followed a blood trail from the body to a hidden homeless encampment, they found five people liv

1:09:42

Episode 312

In July 2024, sanitation workers were completing their usual trash route at the abandoned Mother Goose Land amusement park in Canton, Ohio. While emptying the barrels, they uncovered a horrifying sight after noticing a human limb protruding from a be

1:15:55

Episode 311

When 16-year-old Britney Ujlaky vanished from Spring Creek, Nevada, those closest to her were desperate for answers. She was last seen getting into a green truck with a cowboy nobody could seem to find. As the search intensified, one detail changed e

1:08:58

Episode 310

Young lovers Toby Lowry and Morgan Leppert dreamed of escaping their small-town Florida lives, vanishing in the spring of 2008 to chase freedom at any cost. As they raced across state lines, stealing and hiding, authorities uncovered a chilling reali

1:00:57

Episode 308

In the tight-knit town of Arlington, Indiana, 17-year-old Valerie Tindall went missing on a seemingly ordinary day. At first glance, everything appeared routine - she had told her mother she was going to work. But as detectives started to dig deeper,

1:15:37

Episode 307

When Katelyn Markham vanished without a trace, investigators were left chasing shadows. A registered sex offender. A troubled coworker. A longtime fiancé with too many explanations. But as leads faded and the case grew cold, the real truth remained b

1:21:31

Episode 306

Brian and Brandon Allen were twin brothers, but their lives couldn’t have been more different. The troublemaker Brandon had always cast a shadow over Brian, the quiet follower. When Brandon returned to Palm Beach Gardens and moved in with Brian and t

1:02:19

Episode 304

In March of 2014 Britney Cosby and Crystal Jackson were found murdered and dumped behind a convenience store in the desolate Texas peninsula of Port Bolivar. Detectives at the Galveston Sheriff’s Office followed a series of haphazard clues to piece t

1:12:46

Episode 303

Michelle Rogers thought she had found a stable partner in Matthew Terry, a man who seemed fun and dependable when they met in Lansing, Michigan. But as their relationship went on, his real personality began to show: a violent and controlling side tha

57:56

Episode 301

It was a quiet Shabbat Saturday in Boca Raton, Florida. The Jewish community was shut off from the world for their holy day of rest, but inside Tzvi Allswang’s house on Larkspur Trail, one social worker was trapped in every woman’s worst nightmare.

1:04:18

Episode 300

The calm of a suburban street in Youngstown, Ohio, was shattered when a sudden explosion ripped through a home, leaving witnesses stunned as they watched their neighbors’ house consumed by flames. The fire claimed the lives of the homeowners, Bill an

1:12:06

Episode 299

Ashley Bocanegra told everyone the attack was random, but deep down, she knew it wasn’t. Hours later, she was dead, and her attackers were on the hook for murder. What no one realized was that Ashley had been hiding a secret, and it was one she was d

1:11:50

Episode 297

On June 5th, 1994, a young woman and her dog stumbled upon a dismembered torso behind a gas station dumpster in a quiet Florida town, setting off an investigation that would span decades. As the case went cold, a dark figure remained hidden in plain

1:11:56

Episode 296

On March 20, 2017, Tahirih Lua D’Angelo was found brutally murdered in her Riverview, Florida home. Investigators quickly realized this was a personal attack when they discovered she had been killed on her 39th birthday. Suspicion only deepened when

1:03:30

Episode 294

Some men think marriage means control, a game of blackmail sealed with secrets. Mark-Eric Ponsati thought he’d silenced his wife for good. But some things refuse to stay buried. Even in death, they’d come back to haunt him.

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1:03:06

Episode 293

In 1990, 11-year-old Robin Cornell and 32-year-old Lisa Story were brutally assaulted and murdered in their Cape Coral home. For over two decades, the case remained unsolved, leaving their families and community desperate for closure. Then, a single

1:12:47

Episode 292

One morning, seven-year-old Adrian woke up to a confusing and upsetting scene at home. As he tries to understand what's happening, we learn about the hidden problems and growing conflicts among the adults in his life. This child's confusion turns int

1:01:14

Episode 290

When 14-year-old Alianna Defreeze didn’t come home from school one January afternoon, her parents knew something terrible had happened. Police would follow clues from video surveillance to find the monster that was responsible for one of the most unj

57:28

Episode 289

On January 11, 2018, a routine house fire revealed something much more sinister. 28-year-old Elisabeth Bell had burned to death on the second floor of her small eastside home in Buffalo. But as investigators pieced together the how, the real mystery

1:08:08

Episode 287

In November 2021, beloved Fairfield, Iowa, Spanish teacher Nohema Graber vanished during her routine walk in Chautauqua Park. Her body was found the next day, hidden under a tarp with signs of trauma. As investigators dug deeper, unsettling ties to s

1:03:03

Episode 285

When a welfare check on Sherry Harlan led the Snohomish County police to her tattered and bloody apartment, they knew something much more sinister had happened. But an investigation would soon uncover a murder twisted up in pagan magic.

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1:30:53

Episode 283

On the morning of June 14, 2012, 31-year-old Adam Chase stormed out of his home in Stanley, NY, following a heated argument with his wife, Rose. Hours turned into days, and Adam seemed to vanish without a trace. When former deputy-turned-private inve

1:19:18

Episode 282

21-year-old Lauren Kukla spent her life holding her family together - a Michigan household defined by chaos, addiction, and mental illness. Unlike her troubled siblings, Lauren had managed to stay grounded, becoming the caretaker and peacekeeper. Whi

1:08:23

Episode 281

On May 8th, 2008, an intruder entered the home of 53-year-old Thomas Randolph and his wife Sharon. The masked man waited until the couple arrived home from date night in downtown Las Vegas, and shot Sharon in the head as soon as she walked through th

1:00:57

Episode 280

In June of 2014, 16-year-old Gina Burger went missing from her home in Austintown, Ohio. Two days after she was reported missing, Gina was found 50 miles away, in another state. Her lifeless body was discovered among trash, in a landfill.

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13:23

Introducing - Sword and Scale Nightmares

Introducing Sword and Scale Nightmares! True Crime for Bedtime. Your nightmare begins now...The first three episodes will drop on 3.2.23 at 3:23pm EDT. In the meantime, please take a moment to subscribe on your preferred podcast listening platform...

1:01:30

Episode 6

This is the conclusion to a two part saga involving the organized abduction and abuse of children and ritualistic murders by satanic cults allegedly headed by the top levels of government at a mysterious all-male retreat known as Bohemian Grove. We t

54:27

Episode 5

Imagine a criminal conspiracy and cover-up so so massive in scale, involving the highest levels of government and industry, that it threatens the very fabric of the American system. Now imagine that the crimes of this criminal syndicate are so horrib