The Michigan Murderer

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Discretion. Is it by maybe it
murder. Most of us, as children,

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were taught about stranger danger to fear
unknown people. A mother squeezes her

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child's hand a little tighter when a
stranger walks by. The neighbors wonder about

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a person that lives in the house
with the uncut grass and the aluminum foil

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on the windows. Teen girls are
cautioned not to walk by vans that you

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can't see inside, And as long
as we avoid those situations, we should

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be safe. Right, not necessarily. John Norman Chapman was born on June

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seventeenth, nineteen forty seven, in
Windsor, Ontario. His father was Canadian

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and his mother was American. He
was the youngest of three children. His

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father was an abusive alcoholic, and
he left shortly after John was born.

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His mother soon remarried, and her
second husband was also an abusive alcoholic who

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took a lot of his anger out
on John. His mother left and relocated

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the family to Detroit, Michigan.
It was there that she met William Collins.

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Perhaps the third time would be the
charm, so his mother married again.

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Not only did she take Collins as
her last name, but her children

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did as well. The third marriage
only lasted a few years, and even

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though his childhood was pretty traumatic,
he grew up to be quite the all

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American young man. John attended Saint
Clement Catholic High School, where he was

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an honor student, captain of the
football team, and star pitcher of the

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baseball team. After graduating, he
attended did Eastern Michigan University. He majored

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in elementary education. He joined Theta
Kai fraternity. He worked out and even

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landed a few modeling gigs. He
loved motorcycles. What college girl wouldn't want

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to go on a date with him. The town where John lived was full

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of college co eds, and it
was the sixties. Most of the young

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adults were enjoying life, although very
few of them had their own cars,

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so they hitchhiked. But on July
ninth, nineteen sixty seven, Mary Flazar,

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a nineteen year old accounting student,
disappeared. A witness said that a

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blue and gray Chevrolet offered her a
ride and she refused. The vehicle left,

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but then returned. Her body was
later found near a farm in Superior

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Township on August seventh. Mary had
been stabbed more than thirty times, beaten

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part of her hand was missing and
her feet had been severed at the ankles.

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Her body was so decomposed that they
couldn't tell if she had been raped,

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and they had to use dental records
to confirm her identity. The investigators

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noticed she had not been killed in
that location, but had been moved around

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the area. At the funeral home, a man asked if he could take

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a picture of the body in the
casket for the family. The employees denied

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the request. The employees noted that
that man left angry and that they didn't

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even see a camera. Then,
on July fifth, nineteen sixty eight,

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construction workers found the body of a
woman on the roadside in ann Arbor.

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The body found was twenty year old
Joan Shell, a local art student.

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Joan had been raped and she was
stabbed twenty five times. Her skull was

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fractured, her throat was slashed,
and her skirt was tied around her neck.

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Due to the similarities, they assumed
that her case was related to flazars.

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Her roommates had reported her missing.
On June thirtieth, Joan was hitchhiking

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and accepted a ride from a guy
driving a red and black Pontiac Bonneville.

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Her roommate, even helped the police
form a sketch. They questioned one hundred

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and fifty owners of Red and Black
Bonneville's, but didn't find a lead.

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They interviewed Shell's neighbors. The neighbor
across the street, John Collins, matched

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the sketch. He said that he'd
never met Joan and was at his mother's

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that weekend of June thirtieth. The
police did not confirm that alibi. On

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March twentieth, nineteen sixty nine,
Jane Mixer, a twenty three year old

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law student, went missing after she
posted the need for a ride to Muskegon

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on a bulletin board. Her body
was found the next day on top of

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a grave in the Denton Cemetery.
She was clothed and had not been beaten

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or raped, but she had been
shot in the head. There were similarities

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to the previous murders. She was
a local student, and she had something

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around her neck, so investigators assumed
the cases were connected. Just a few

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days later, on March twenty fifth, a naked and mutilated body was found

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by a surveyor just a few hundred
yards from where they found Joan Shell's body.

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One third of her skull was fractured. Some kind of leather strap had

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been used to whip her body,
her garter belt had been tied around her

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neck, a piece of her shirt
had been pushed down her throat, and

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a tree branch was shoved into her
vagina. The body was soon identified as

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Marylyn's Skelton, a sixteen year old
that had been seen hitchhiking the day before.

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After Skelton's murder, police from five
jurisdictions formally combined resources in an effort

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to solve these crimes. Although they
had exchanged some information before, they had

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not officially been working together. It
wouldn't be long before they had yet another

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victim on their board. On April
sixteenth, the body of thirteen year old

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Dawn Basim was found on a desolate
road in Ipsilante. Dawn had been at

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a friend's house the night before and
only had to walk about five blocks alone

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to get home, but she never
made it there. She had been stabbed,

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slash wounds across her body and handkerchief
was in her mouth. Her blouse,

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along with an electrical flex were wrapped
around her neck, but there was

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no sign of sexual assault. The
investigators believed she was killed one hundred yards

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away in an old farmhouse, where
they found blood and articles of clothing.

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They even found Skelton's missing earring there. This added to their theory that the

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murderer was revisiting the sites. Then, on May thirteenth, the farmhouse burned

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to the ground. The police stated
that it was an act of arson.

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Did the murderer burn it down maybe? They found five recently cut lilacs arranged

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on the driveway, mimicking a memorial
site, but the Michigan murderer was not

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done. On June ninth, another
body was found. Her throat had been

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slashed, she had been stabbed multiple
times, and she was shot in the

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head. The pathologist believed that she
was also raped after death. Her clothes

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were scattered and her shoe was missing. The body was that of Alice Colam,

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a twenty one year old student going
to college to better understand social relationships.

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She had been last seen at a
party a couple of nights before.

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Besides Mixer, she was the only
other victim to have a gunshot wound.

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By July of that year, over
a thousand convicted sex offenders had been interviewed

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and thousands of leads investigated. Sales
drastically increased of tear gas, knives,

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and security locks. Hitchhiking slowed down, and many females accepted a buddy system

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when walking around. The police knew
the suspect preferred Caucasian burnette females. Beyond

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that, they had little to nothing
to go on. Eventually, the Michigan

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murderer would make an error and then
they would find him. On July twenty

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third, Susan Bidemann, an eighteen
year old student, was reported missing by

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her roommate. Her body was found
three days later off Huron River Parkway.

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She was nude, had been strangled
and had lacerations so severe that strips of

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her skin had been ripped off.
A caustic substance had been poured over her

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upper body and down her throat.
Susan had been raped, and her underwear

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had been pushed into her vagina.
They also found seamen and clippings of hair

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that did not belong to the victim
on her underwear. The police expected the

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killer to return to the site,
so they forced a media blackout, keeping

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the murderer from knowing that the body
had been found. They placed a mannikin

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at the site and set up watch. After midnight, a man was seen

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running away from the site, but
due to heavy rains, the officer couldn't

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make out a description. He tried
to call it in, but the storm

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caused interference with the radios. When
investigators investigated and retraced Susan's steps, they

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found a wig shop. The owner
told them that Susan had come in and

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was with a man on a motorcycle. Diana Ghosh said the young woman told

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her that she only had done two
things foolish in her life, buying a

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wig and accepting a ride from the
stranger on the bike. When Diana described

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the man, one of the patrolmen
thought that the man sounded like former Theta

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Kai brother John Collins. He got
photos from one of Collins's old girlfriends and

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showed them to the shop owner.
She was sure Collins was the man she

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saw that day. On July twenty
seven, investigators went to Collins's apartment and

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asked him to go to the police
station with them. Collins refused. The

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next night, Collins's roommate saw him
carrying out a box wrapped in a blanket.

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He saw a woman's shoe and a
purse in the box. Two days

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later, the police showed up with
a search warrant, but didn't find any

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physical evidence linking Collins to the other
crimes. Collins's uncle was a sergeant on

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the police force, David Leak.
He was notified of his nephew's suspects status

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before the arrest. He had just
returned from a trip and Collins had been

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house sitting to care for their dog. David's wife had noticed some weird things

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in their basement. He realized his
basement might be related to the case.

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In the Leak's basement, investigators found
blood that matched Susan's blood type and hair

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clippings that matched the ones on the
underwear. On August first, John Collins

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was formerly arraigned. In early August, Washington All County was contacted by investigators

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in Salinas, California. It was
discovered Collins was in California during the time

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of another murder. Roxy Phillips,
a seventeen year old, was found naked,

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beaten, and strangled with a belt
around her neck on August fifth.

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The cases were formerly connected, although
John never went to California for trial.

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In August of nineteen seventy, John
Collins was unanimously found guilty of the first

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degree murder of Susan Binnemann and sentenced
to life in prison without parole. While

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in prison, he started writing letters
to the press and even let investigators come

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in for more interviews. He revealed
disturbing information that often confirmed their decades old

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suspicions. He makes his home in
g Robert Cotton Correctional Facility and corresponds with

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quite a few women. In two
thousand and one, with new DNA testing

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available, Mixer's case was reopened and
the DNA on the stockings produced the match.

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Gary Leidermann, a former nurse,
was charged with Mixer's murder. So

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how many actual victims did John Collins
have? No one except Collins is sure.

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If the officers would have had a
search warrant in hand at their first

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visit, they might have found whatever
items Collins got rid of in that box.

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What we do know is that looks
can be deceiving, and John Collins

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preyed on young women with his trustworthy
smile. The Michigan murderer or Ipsilante ripper

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is off the streets, but still
in our nightmares. That's ten minute murder

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for today. Brief and binge able
true crime. I'm Joe. I'm the

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host, and I really appreciate you
listening today. And yes, I've been

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sick. I still sound sick,
but I am not currently sick. I

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guess I am sick. I don't
know. I feel fine. I'm at

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the point where I stopped taking medicine
every four hours, so I hate doing

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that. So maybe I stopped doing
that a little bit too soon. I

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might recover a little bit faster if
I were to keep taking the medicine.

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But I can't stay. I'd rather
eat a five by seven rug than to

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take four hour every four hours to
take medicine. That drives me crazy.

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Anyway, I feel great, but
I sound like this. Sorry, you're

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welcome, and hey, if you're
brand new to Ten Minute Murder, welcome

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to the podcasts. Glad that you're
here. Please subscribe now so that you

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can more easily catch up on the
back episodes and connect with me on social

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media. See the pictures of what
we're talking about here in the podcast,

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and it's not gross stuff. I
don't like to post graphic things to social

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media. I don't like to look
at it, no less post it.

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And if you like this episode.
Please leave a rating and review on Apple,

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Spotify, any place that that's possible
and quickly. It is Spooky month

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and the whole month of October.
If you share this podcast I've mentioned it

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before, if you share this podcast
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like on Facebook. If I were
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the listening links to this story that
we're talking about today, if you share

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that screenshot it, send it to
me and at random multiple people throughout this

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month. I'm going to send you
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you're selected because I'll send you a
message and say, hey, congratulations,

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target gift card. What's your address
and I'll send it to you. So

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make sure you do that. It
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episodes. It can be anything to
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screenshot it, send it to me
in a message. All right,

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that's going to do it. That
is today's episode. Thank you so much

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for listening to ten Minute Murder.