Crime Curious

Monday night, August 14th, 1989. Orlando, Florida.

A 27-year-old man from Brooklyn walks up to the front desk of his hotel. He's in town on vacation with his mom, and his family. They've been to Disney World. They've taken pictures. They've shot home videos. Postcards. The whole thing. More than a thousand miles away, a young man named Darryl Rush is shot to death outside a public housing complex in Brooklyn, and a few days later, the man from the hotel is arrested for killing him. He'd spend the next 24 years in prison, telling anyone who'd listen that he'd been at Disney World. And all that time, the proof was sitting in a police file. This is the story of Darryl Rush, whose murder has never been solved. And of Jonathan Fleming, the man who paid for it with a quarter of a century of his life.

 

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Music By: Michael Drzewiecki
Cover Art By: Charnell

National Registry of Exonerations: Jonathan Fleming: the full case summary, from the murder through the settlements

ProPublica: Brooklyn DA moves to free man after long-buried evidence surfaces

ProPublica: Brooklyn man walks out of court cleared of murder

CNN: Convicted despite vacation alibi, freed after 24 years

CNN: Fleming to sue for $162M

AP via Fox News: Man exonerated of NYC murder committed while he was at Disney World

CBS New York: "I'm gonna live the rest of my life"

PIX11: 25 years later, man wrongfully convicted goes free

ABC7: Brooklyn DA dismisses murder charges

BKMAG: Quality Inn receipt

Newsweek: "I have no faith in the system"

NBC News: Fleming to get $6.25M from NYC

On a warm spring afternoon in rural Mattoon, Illinois, a crime unfolded that would leave an entire community shattered. In April 1968, five children from the Cox family were found brutally murdered near their farmhouse, victims of a shocking act of violence that defied comprehension. The accused was not a stranger lurking in the shadows, but 18-year-old Thomas Charles Fuller, a local high school student who had been welcomed into the family's home and was dating one of the Cox daughters.
 

 

Join Patreon here to binge bonus content! Crime Curious is creating a kick-ass exclusive listener experience | Patreon

Want to just donate to the show? You can do so here:

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Music By: Michael Drzewiecki
Cover Art By: Charnell
 

A. Kleen: Five Little Birds: The 1968 Cox Murders: the family, the day, the manhunt, the plea and sentencing, with a full list of 1968 newspaper sources

People v. Fuller, Illinois Appellate Court (1974): conviction date, victims' ages, sentence structure, hearing dates

JG-TC: Murderer of 5 children seeks parole (2011)

JG-TC: Family continues to fight parole

JG-TC: Parole again denied, 51 years later (2019)

14 News: IL man denied parole in 1968 killings

org: Petition to deny parole, Thomas Charles Fuller II (2026): parents' dates of death, insanity ruling, family's ongoing fight

William Cox, "A Tragic Saturday That Shattered My Family," Awake!, October 22, 1986

Diane Sawyer, The Mattoon Murders (Southern Publishing Co., 1982)

Toni Jo Henry’s story is one of the most dramatic and tragic in Louisiana true crime history. Born Annie Beatrice McQuiston in Shreveport, she survived a childhood marked by loss, abuse, and poverty before spiraling into addiction and sex work. In 1939, she married prizefighter Claude “Cowboy” Henry—only for him to be arrested soon after and sentenced to 50 years in prison. Determined to break him out, Toni Jo teamed up with accomplice Horace “Arkie” Burks, and their desperate plan led to the robbery and murder of 41‑year‑old Joseph P. Calloway. After three sensational trials, Toni Jo became the only woman ever executed in Louisiana’s electric chair, “Gruesome Gertie,” in 1942. Her case remains infamous for its blend of grit, glamour, and the haunting question of whether she was a cold‑blooded killer or a broken woman chasing love at any cost.

 

Join Patreon here to binge bonus content! Crime Curious is creating a kick-ass exclusive listener experience | Patreon

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Music By: Michael Drzewiecki
Cover Art By: Charnell

 

 

Wikipedia: Toni Jo Henry, citing O'Shea (1999), Baker (2015), Gillespie (2009) and Nash (1992)

Capital Punishment UK: Toni Jo Henry, A Love Worth Dying For?: most detailed account of the crime, trials, condemned cell and execution

Malefactor's Register: The Tough Life of Toni Jo Henry: Elliot Chaze interview, rumble seat and barbed wire details, unloaded-gun account

The Pardon: Old Articles and Photos: Lake Charles American Press clippings, Feb–Mar 1940

Find a Grave: Toni Jo Henry: birth, parents, burial

Geni: Toni Jo Henry: parents' names

Louisiana Anthology: Toni Jo Henry: siblings

The Cinemaholic: Toni Jo Henry

Murderpedia: Toni Jo Henry

In 2023, Ohio toddler Mackenna Ray became the center of a heartbreaking child‑abuse case that shocked her community. At just two years old, Mackenna endured injuries no child should ever face — yet her story is not one of loss, but of survival. This episode explores the timeline of her abuse, the charges brought against those responsible, and the ongoing efforts to protect Mackenna as she continues to heal. Her case is a stark reminder of how fragile safety can be — and how powerful a community’s determination is when a child needs justice.

 

Join Patreon here to binge bonus content! Crime Curious is creating a kick-ass exclusive listener experience | Patreon

Want to just donate to the show? You can do so here:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crimecurious
Music By: Michael Drzewiecki
Cover Art By: Charnell

News 5 Cleveland: family asks for justice six months after abuse

News 5 Cleveland: charges filed almost a year later

News 5 Cleveland: trial starts

News 5 Cleveland: mother found guilty

Court TV / Scripps: mother sentenced to 15 years

News 5 Cleveland: Dryer changes plea to guilty

Hoodline: Dryer plea and sentencing date

News 5 Cleveland: Dryer to be sentenced

Cleveland 19: Dryer sentenced to 15 years

Jennifer Kvoriak's posts, via TikTok #JusticeForMakennaRae

In 1916, eighteen‑year‑old Marion Frances Lambert left home on a bitter February morning and never returned. By nightfall, she was found frozen in the snow leaving a mystery in her wake, and a community spiraling into scandal. Her boyfriend, college student Will Orpet, quickly became the prime suspect, igniting one of the most sensational trials of the early 20th century. But Marion’s story didn’t end in the courtroom. For more than a century, drivers along Sheridan Road have reported seeing a girl in white standing at the edge of the trees.

 

Join Patreon here to binge bonus content! Crime Curious is creating a kick-ass exclusive listener experience | Patreon

Want to just donate to the show? You can do so here:

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/crimecurious
Music By: Michael Drzewiecki
Cover Art By: Charnell

Chicago Tribune (1916) • The Lake Forester (1916) • The Inter Ocean • The Day Book • Wisconsin State Journal • The New York Times (1916) • Los Angeles Herald • San Francisco Call • People v. Will H. Orpet trial transcripts • Lake County Coroner’s Inquest Records • Find A Grave: Marion Frances Lambert • Lake Forest Cemetery Records • U.S. Census Records (1900 & 1910) • Lake Forest–Lake Bluff Historical Society • Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections • Wisconsin Historical Society Archives • Sheridan Road ghost lore archives.