Sword and Scale Nightmares

Not hearing from her sister in a while Pamela Powel called the police. Upon a welfare check the police would discover her home was empty. It wasn’t just Alison Sapikowski that was missing, it was her husband James, and her high school-aged son Adam. When the police began canvassing the neighborhood asking questions they would reveal a most shocking reason the Sapikowskis were nowhere to be found.

In June of 1977, Yale students Terri Jentz and Avra Goldman are on a cross-country biking trip when a terrifying attack changes their lives forever.

When Kent law enforcement arrived at 67-year-old David Fuller’s home on December 3rd, 2020, they expected to put an end to a 33-year-old murder investigation. They never expected that closing this case would shatter the lives of over 100 additional families in the process.

While police search a small Pentecostal church for kidnapped Baby Brandon, another disturbing case emerges… one involving the horrifying exorcism of Arely Proctor.

It was May of 1998 in the small town of Romeo, Michigan and a crew of detectives found themselves knee-deep in a hoarder’s nest. The once quaint home of the Verellen Sisters now resembled the inside of a dumpster. The whole house was littered with trash: greasy paper bags, half-empty cups of soda, pest strips hanging from the ceiling collecting flies, and ketchup. There was an obscene amount of ketchup smeared over the entire home. With each step into the layers of trash on the floor, the detectives wondered what mysterious noise would pop under their feet. The squish of an old hamburger? A cat? A small dog? After all, the people living here shared this mess with seven pets. The detectives trudged through the sea of clothes, feces, trash, and children’s toys. They were looking for a woman who had gone missing and this was the last known place she had been seen alive.

After a little boy’s body is found floating off the Oregon coastline in December of 2001, detectives are alarmed that no one in the area reports a missing child. Soon, more bodies are pulled from the water, and a narcissistic conman goes on the run.

Happily married Joseph Parker and his wife fell on hard times after he lost his job. Their beautiful home in Tennessee was foreclosing soon, and they were equally distressed. The pressure was mounting, and they couldn’t imagine things getting any worse. Then, on their 12th anniversary, Joseph begins hearing noises coming from the garage. What he discovered would turn the family upside down.

Amarillo, Texas is known to many as “Bomb City” because it’s home to the Pantex nuclear weapons facility. In the 90’s, Amarillo was filled with lots of country-folk and bible-belt families, but there also existed a subculture that the town worked hard to keep hidden. Just before Christmas in 1997, the veritable civil-war between the youth of these two groups came to an explosive head. This time, not everyone would be making it out alive.

In 1997, Ricki Ellsworth, a wife, mom and daughter went missing from her night job at a Memphis hotel. Her only remains were the red stains left behind on the walls and floor where she worked. While her murder would be solved her body would never be found thanks to the years of planning by her killer.

A shocking news headline sends minor league baseball player Blake Bivens home in a hurry. Something was happening in his hometown in Virginia and he feared the worst. A tragedy struck that affected the whole community and would change his life forever.

In fall of 1974, a father and son bond over multiple armed robberies, sexual assaults, and brutal murders.

Amityville, New York was the scene for a 70’s movie called Amityville Horror, but 2020 reminded residents that horror can strike at any time. Vietnam vet Dwight Powers would be the focus of this true story, and he wouldn’t live to tell it. Assaulted in his very home by a crazed and ruthless man, he learned the hard way that safety and peace are only ever temporary.

A brilliant psychopath traps multiple women in his secret basement and begins plans to create the perfect family.

“Artist, women’s rights activist, Japanese immigrant, renowned arts professor”. These are the words that describe Rie Hachiyanagi, a paper artist living and working in Massachusetts at Mount Holyoke College. When she discovered her friend in serious danger one night in December of 2019, Rie revealed to the world her multi-faceted personality. There was more to Rie than those around her could see.

“If you were gorgeous and running out of money, what would you do? If you loved hurting things, what would you do?” 30-year-old Iana Kasian was a Ukrainian woman who was about to marry into a very wealthy Canadian family. She had already secured her spot with a baby on the way. Iana would soon learn the answers to those cryptic questions… though she’d learn them the hard way.

The entire second floor of the Graham-Greenlee dormitory on the University of Arizona’s campus was suddenly awoken in the early morning hours of September 5th, 2007. It sounded like someone was moving furniture until they heard screams. A fight had broken out between roommates sending Galareka Harrison fleeing down the hall searching for help leaving a trail of blood behind her.

Detectives fear the worst after a 9-year-old girl goes missing, and an empty grave is discovered in the nearby woods.

From the moment Katie Fusco learned that she was an adopted child, she longed to understand where she came from and why she was put up for adoption in the first place. At age 18, just as she was about to graduate high school and head off to college, Katie decided to make contact with her biological parents. Unfortunately, this choice came with a hard lesson. Some rocks should never be turned over.

In 1986, a young Navy Seaman went missing from Gibraltar, a British naval base, after the ship The Illustrious docked for a few days. Simon Parkes’s grief-stricken parents would search for him for more than fifteen years, until 2001 when a connection was made between Simon and two other young cadets who went missing. Their bodies would surface, but Simon’s would not. Investigators would later discover the grim reality that they may have encountered one of the worst serial killers in England’s history.

Two men on vacation in Florida happen upon a battered and desperate woman who stumbled out of the brush on the side of a remote highway in South Florida. As the men try to help Shandelle Maycock they realize her injuries are severe but she wasn’t worried about them, she was more worried about who did this to her… and her still missing child.

The distressing tale of Kendall Maycock unfolds as a poignant narrative of a resilient young single mother grappling with the formidable challenges life has thrown her way. Her journey, marked by the trials of an unexpected early pregnancy and the daunting reality of homelessness, paints a vivid picture of her struggle against the odds.

Kendall's life, already steeped in hardship, veered into an even more perilous direction when she encountered Harold Franklin Brodie, a man whose history was tainted by criminal activities. Initially, Harold presented himself as a benevolent figure, extending an offer of assistance to the beleaguered young woman. However, his true intentions soon surfaced as he began to make unwelcome and inappropriate advances toward her.

The situation escalated tragically when Harold assaulted Kendall, a harrowing experience that left her battered and abandoned on the side of a desolate road. In this critical moment of vulnerability, her plight was witnessed by compassionate passersby who intervened, providing her with the much-needed help and ultimately saving her from further peril.

The aftermath of the assault saw the mobilization of law enforcement as a thorough police investigation was launched, meticulously piecing together the events that led to the attack. The diligent efforts of the authorities culminated in the apprehension and arrest of Harold, bringing a measure of justice to the ordeal that Kendall had endured.

Meanwhile, Harold's wife was engulfed in her own turmoil, reacting with a mix of shock, disbelief, and hysteria as the events unfolded and the grim reality of her husband's actions came to light. Her emotional turmoil added another layer to the complex narrative of betrayal and victimization that surrounded this case.

Kendall's story, while fraught with suffering and injustice, is also a testament to her indomitable spirit and the human capacity for resilience in the face of overwhelming adversity. It serves as a stark reminder of the challenges that many face in silence and the profound impact that a single act of kindness—or cruelty—can have on a person's life.

The report of what appeared to be a body on the front porch of a home in small-town St. Johns, Arizona triggered an investigation that would be quick, but not without a myriad of twists and turns.

In this gripping episode of Sword and Scale Nightmares, listeners are taken deep into the chilling true crime story of Christian Romero, an eight-year-old boy from the small town of Saint John's, Arizona, who became entangled in a gruesome double homicide. The episode meticulously recounts the tragic events that led to the deaths of Christian's father, Vincent Romero, and Vincent's friend, Timothy Romans.

As the story unfolds, listeners are introduced to Detective Debbie Nickel, a seasoned investigator who arrives at the crime scene to unravel the mystery behind the brutal killings. Amidst the chaos, she discovers young Christian at the scene, a boy who should be playing with friends, not witnessing such horrors. In a shocking turn of events, Christian confesses to the murders, stating that he took the lives of the two men in a bid to put an end to their suffering, which he claims was caused by an initial attack from an unidentified assailant.

The episode delves into Christian's background, exploring the environment in which he was raised and the possible influences that may have led to his unthinkable actions. It also scrutinizes the legal ramifications of the case, discussing the complexities of prosecuting someone so young and the judicial system's struggle to balance justice with the welfare of a child.

As the community of Saint John's grapples with the shock and grief of losing two of their own to such a young killer, the episode paints a vivid picture of the town's collective heartache and disbelief. The narrative probes the societal implications of the crime, the psychological factors at play, and the challenging questions it raises about nature versus nurture, childhood innocence, and the capacity for violence in the young.

Throughout the episode, Sword and Scale Nightmares invites listeners to consider the broader implications of Christian's actions, the impact on all those involved, and the haunting uncertainty surrounding the boy's future. It's a tale that not only documents the facts of the case but also invites a deeper conversation about the darkest corners of human behavior and the enigmatic workings of a child's mind.

Welcome to 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...

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