CRIME CLASSICS Crime Classics came to CBS September 30, 1953 and was a neat little series of "true crime stories". The show introduced itself succinctly: "Crime Classics, a series of true crime stories from the records and newspapers of every land, from every time. Your host each week, Mr. Thomas Hyland -- connoisseur of crime, student of violence, and teller of murders." Thomas Hyland was played by Lou Merrill, although you'd never know it was an "actor" doing the part. The great Elliott Lewis, actor, producer and director of Suspense, Broadway is My Beat, and On Stage is in charge of this very intelligent and enjoyable show. Bernard Herrmann composed the music that duplicated authentic music of the era being dramatized. Morton Fine and David Friedkin wrote the scripts. Lewis and his writers collected and developed true crime stories expressly for Crime Classics. Thomas Hyland's delivery is measured and mild-mannered, as if giving a college lecture. Would that all professors were this interesting! The actors in the stories themselves are uniformly sensitive. Orchestral scores by the great Bernard Hermann, who did Orson Welles' Mercury Theater radio show and then Alfred Hitchcock's films, give the stories sophistication and mood. So do the tasteful sound effects. There is a wry, cool-blooded tone to the proceedings. Cases profiled on the series ranged from seventeenth-century murder to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Each and every story, however bizarre, is actually based on fact. For example, the show about the Younger Brothers of the American West has some very interesting background details concerning Quantrell's Raiders and the Kansas Jayhawks. In the story of "John Hayes, his Head, and How They Were Parted," we hear the tale of a glassblower who blows glass perfectly and completely surrounding the severed head of a unknown dead man and placed in glass. Then it is placed in a museum where it remained pending identification. Thus his killers were found out by the dead man, using his head. This show is a good companion to other old time radio shows that are historically-oriented, such as Cavalcade of America, You Are There, and The American Trail.

CRIME CLASSICS Crime Classics came to CBS September 30, 1953 and was a neat little series of "true crime stories". The show introduced itself succinctly: "Crime Classics, a series of true crime stories from the records and newspapers of every land, from every time. Your host each week, Mr. Thomas Hyland -- connoisseur of crime, student of violence, and teller of murders." Thomas Hyland was played by Lou Merrill, although you'd never know it was an "actor" doing the part. The great Elliott Lewis, actor, producer and director of Suspense, Broadway is My Beat, and On Stage is in charge of this very intelligent and enjoyable show. Bernard Herrmann composed the music that duplicated authentic music of the era being dramatized. Morton Fine and David Friedkin wrote the scripts. Lewis and his writers collected and developed true crime stories expressly for Crime Classics. Thomas Hyland's delivery is measured and mild-mannered, as if giving a college lecture. Would that all professors were this interesting! The actors in the stories themselves are uniformly sensitive. Orchestral scores by the great Bernard Hermann, who did Orson Welles' Mercury Theater radio show and then Alfred Hitchcock's films, give the stories sophistication and mood. So do the tasteful sound effects. There is a wry, cool-blooded tone to the proceedings. Cases profiled on the series ranged from seventeenth-century murder to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Each and every story, however bizarre, is actually based on fact. For example, the show about the Younger Brothers of the American West has some very interesting background details concerning Quantrell's Raiders and the Kansas Jayhawks. In the story of "John Hayes, his Head, and How They Were Parted," we hear the tale of a glassblower who blows glass perfectly and completely surrounding the severed head of a unknown dead man and placed in glass. Then it is placed in a museum where it remained pending identification. Thus his killers were found out by the dead man, using his head. This show is a good companion to other old time radio shows that are historically-oriented, such as Cavalcade of America, You Are There, and The American Trail.

This famous kidnapping/murder case made headlines numerous times over a period of 50 years. In December of 1957 young Maria Rudolph was kidnapped from her neighborhood in Illinois by a young man who introduced himself as Johnnie to she and her friend. Her body was found by a roadside some weeks later 90 miles away. Not long after, a neighbor named John Tessier was arrested on suspicion of murder, and from that a series of twists and turns led to his conviction and,years later,his release as investigations turned up new evidence which verified his timeline alibi. The killer, as far as justice was concerned, was never found.

The great depression was setting in. In Eastern North Dakota families were suffering from the effects of money shortages, and it wasn't unusual to see entire families packing up and gheading west toward what they hoped was a beter future. So when the Haven family, consisteing of two adults and 4 kids between the ages of 18 and 2 months, disappeared, no one in the small community of Schafer really missed them. When they asked, the a 22 year old man who they had hired as farm help said they had gone to Oregon and left him there to take care of things.

But the facts were quite different. The young man, named Charles Bannon, was hiding a deadly secret.

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On Dec 10, 1971, Middelbury College freshman Lynn Kathryn Schulz was last seen at 2:10 pm standing across from a small health food store and bus terminal on Court Street in Middlebury VT. Despite continuing investgation, the killer was never found, but a person of interest named Robert Durst, a convicted murderer, now deceased, is believed by many to have been the killer. He was present in the health food store then in Middlebury and was believed in years after to have been a serialkiller. If you were in Middelbury in 1971 the Middlebury Police would like to speak with you.

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On December 10th, 1971, Middlebury VT college fresman Lynne Schulz failed to attend a final exam and was seen standing across from a health food store on Court Street in Middebury.One witness would later say they saw her walking down the main route that led out of town. That was the last anyone ever saw her. Investigations continued but nothing turned up until 2012 when the police received an anonymous call suggesting they loook into the fact that a suspected murderer named Robert Durst had owned that health food store which Lynne was known to have frequented. Durst was suspected for a number of murders, and convicted for one.He died in prison but the search continues for the body of Lynne Schulz. This is Part One of her story

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The Ratcliffe Hwy murders were attacks on two separate families-the Marr and Williamson families-living within a few blocks of each other in the East End of London-that resulted in 7 deaths. The attacks occurred only 7 days apart and were very similar, although no reason was ever given as to why the two families were chosen. Both were doing well in business, but no money was shown to have been stolen. the main suspect in the slayings, John Williams,was found hanged in jain before he could be put on trial. This crime has been followed by many but William's guilt was never absolutely provenand no motive has been assigned.

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The Lizzie Borden trial made a huge splash in the newspapers of the time,not only in Fall river, Massachusetts, where the double axe murder occurred, but across the country. Police investigations of families with any kid of social status were not known for suspecting upright citizens- they tended to think immigrants or low-lifes were responsible. And investigations were limited- very poor when held up to today's standards. Lizzie was declared not guilty by a jury- even when all the evidence led to her murder of her stepmother and father.

This is the story-