True Crime Campfire

In August of 2012, the family of an Irish woman named Elaine O’Hara reported her missing. Investigators located her car near the seashore, but found no sign of Elaine herself. She had been struggling with her mental health for most of her life; in fact, the day she disappeared was the day she got home from a five-week stay in a psychiatric hospital. So after a brief investigation, everyone concluded that Elaine must have taken her own life. But Elaine had been living a secret life for the past year and half before she went missing—playing a dangerous game with a man obsessed with sexual violence. Every time she tried to escape his hold on her, he would draw her back in. Elaine’s loved ones knew nothing about her double life. And if it hadn’t been for a series of strange coincidences about a year after her disappearance, it would have stayed that way forever. But truth has a way of coming to the light—especially a truth as dark as this one.

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Join us live at Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp in Equinunk, PA, September 10-13th! Visit ⁠badmagicproductions.com⁠ for more info and to buy tickets.



Tickets are on sale now for CrimeWave 2.0! Visit
crimewaveatsea.com/CAMPFIRE to get your discount code for $100 off your cabin and a private meet-and-greet with us! The cruise is Feb. 8-12, 2027.

Sources:

Almost the Perfect Murder, Paul Williams

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Elaine_O%27Hara

ITV's "Secrets of a Psychopath"

The Journal: https://www.thejournal.ie/graham-dwyer-timeline-1995085-Mar2015/

https://sk.sagepub.com/dict/edvol/the-concise-dictionary-of-crime-and-justice/chpt/piquerism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_imprisonment_in_Ireland

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In Part One of this story last week, we followed the rise to riches of hotel owner Ben Novack Sr. and his glamorous model wife Bernice, and the spoiled yet lonely life of their son Benji. When we left off, Ben and Bernice were divorced, and Benji’s own first marriage had just ended. He had just gotten together with an exotic dancer named Narcy, a choice that would eventually have disastrous consequences for everyone in Benji’s life. This week, things get nuts.

Visit quince.com/campfire for free shipping and 365-day returns!

Join us live at Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp in Equinunk, PA, September 10-13th! Visit ⁠badmagicproductions.com⁠ for more info and to buy tickets.



Tickets are on sale now for CrimeWave 2.0! Visit
crimewaveatsea.com/CAMPFIRE to get your discount code for $100 off your cabin and a private meet-and-greet with us! The cruise is Feb. 8-12, 2027.

Sources:

The Prince of Paradise, John Glatt

https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/alejandro-garcia-sentenced-white-plains-federal-court-17-years-and-six-months-prison

https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/nys/pressreleases/December12/NovackVelizVerdictPR.php

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It has sometimes been said that great wealth is a curse—usually by people who have never had to go hungry, but there is something to it. The idea of the miserable millionaire goes back much further than Ebeneezer Scrooge. If you dedicate everything you have to the pursuit of wealth, then what’s left over for the rest of your life? In particular, the children of the very wealthy can have a tough time, sometimes both cosseted and ignored, sailing out into life without the lessons hammered into the rest of us by hard experience. It can leave them prone to making bad decisions. It can make them targets.

Visit quince.com/campfire for 365 day returns and free shipping!

Join us live at Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp in Equinunk, PA, September 10-13th! Visit ⁠badmagicproductions.com⁠ for more info and to buy tickets.

Tickets are on sale now for CrimeWave 2.0! Visit crimewaveatsea.com/CAMPFIRE to get your discount code for $100 off your cabin and a private meet-and-greet with us! The cruise is Feb. 8-12, 2027.

Sources:

The Prince of Paradise, John Glatt

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There are some crimes and schemes that must be just about as old as humanity itself. I’m sure handsome scammers have been wooing the daughters of wealthy families for about as long as the concepts of marriage and inheritance have existed. And I’m equally sure that every now and again, one of those handsome scammers got tired of waiting for nature to take its course, and decided to hurry along his in-laws’ journey to the grave. This week’s story is about a man who was entirely of his time, but chose to seek his fortune through these timeless means.

Sources:

Tobin T. Buhk, Poisoning the Pecks of Grand Rapids

Join us live at Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp in Equinunk,
PA, September 10-13th! Visit ⁠badmagicproductions.com⁠
for more info and to buy tickets.



Tickets are on sale now for CrimeWave 2.0! Visit
crimewaveatsea.com/CAMPFIRE to get your discount code for $100 off your cabin and a private meet-and-greet with us! The cruise is Feb. 8-12, 2027.

Follow us, campers!Patreon (join to get all episodes ad-free, at least a day early, an extra
episode a month, and a free sticker!): https://patreon.com/TrueCrimeCampfirehttps://www.truecrimecampfirepod.com/Facebook: True Crime CampfireInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimecampfire/?hl=enEmail: truecrimecampfirepod@gmail.comMERCH! https://true-crime-campfire.myspreadshop.com

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In his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde tells the story of a handsome young man who makes a deal with the Devil—his soul, in exchange for eternal youth and beauty. But there is a portrait of Dorian in the attic of his house, and as he moves through the years with his handsome face not aging, the portrait ages—and it also begins to show the poison seeping through him as he lives his life in soulless, selfish pursuit of hedonistic pleasures. He drives a young woman to suicide and doesn’t feel bad about it. He becomes more and more of a toxic force in the lives of the people around him. And when his friend finally calls him out on it, Dorian murders him. He couldn’t bear the fact that his best friend could see him for what he really was—the true, monstrous face behind the handsome façade. It’s a hell of a metaphor, and it’s what we’ve said so many times on our show about narcissists: that they want to indulge themselves at the expense of everybody else, but would rather die than be exposed for it. Today’s story is about a real-life Dorian Gray, a man who used his charm and charisma to lure in a talented, intelligent woman, only to throw her life into chaos and leave broken wreckage behind.

Join us live at Wet Hot Bad Magic Summer Camp in Equinunk, PA, September 10-13th! Visit ⁠badmagicproductions.com⁠ for more info and to buy tickets.

Tickets are on sale now for CrimeWave 2.0! Visit crimewaveatsea.com/CAMPFIRE to get your discount code for $100 off your cabin and a private meet-and-greet with us! The cruise is Feb. 8-12, 2027.

Sources:

I Survived: A True Story, Victoria Cilliers

ITV, "The Parachute Murder Plot with Fiona Bruce"

NPR: https://www.npr.org/2018/06/16/620531854/former-british-army-sergeant-sentenced-after-parachute-murder-attempt-of-wife

https://www.aetv.com/articles/victoria-cilliers-skydive-murder-plot

The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/may/24/shocking-betrayal-the-soldier-the-lover-and-the-sabotaged-parachute-emile-cilliers

Winchester Crown Court, Judge's Sentencing Remarks: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/r-v-cilliers-mr-justice-sweeney-sentencing-remarks-winchester-crown-court-15-june-2018.pdf

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