Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast

Episode 65 2ndCast- ‘Female of the Species’- Pt.3 Death Sentence- The True Story of Velma Barfield’s Life, Crimes and Execution by Jerry Bledsoe

Pt 3: What happens when you are on Death Row?  How does the appeal process work?  What is the human toll?  Is it justice?  We will follow Velma’s loved ones as they struggle with new revelations and hear from the families of the victims as human endurance is tested.  Jill walks you through Velma Barfield’s maze of appeals, arguments for a new trial, and the final emotional outcome.  And Jill tells you what she thinks of Velma Barfield, the Death Row Granny (of course she does!)
 
Sources, show notes, photographs, recipe and drink information are found on Jill’s blog: www.murdershelfbookclub.com, May 2023.
 
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
"Trust your gut!"
 
 
 

Episode 64: ‘Poisoning the waterhole’ – Pt.2 Death Sentence- The True Story of Velma Barfield’s Life, Crimes and Execution by Jerry Bledsoe

In Part 2, on trial for premeditated murder, Velma Barfield’s attorney, Bob Jacobson has an uphill battle—she confessed to poisoning Stuart Taylor- and 3 other people. With the defense team facing the “World’s most deadly prosecutor” Joe Freeman Britt, only Velma could explain herself.
Was she too impaired from her drug abuse to understand what she was doing?  Would she sway the jurors? Could this risky decision save her life? Or was she a cold-calculating serial killer as the Prosecution presents? 
 
Sources, photographs, recipes and wine pairings are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, May 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.

Episode 63 ‘Broken Hearts and Hearths’- Death Sentence- The True Story of Velma Barfield’s Life, Crimes and Execution by Jerry Bledsoe Pt 1

Part 1: After a childhood of poverty and abuse, 17-year-old Margie Velma Bullard eloped with Senior Thomas Burke while they were both in high school. Building a happy life, they welcomed a son and daughter, becoming a normal American family. That is, until addiction reared its ugliness, triggering a cascade of painful, inexplicable deaths. Why did so many people around Velma die? Then, the world imploded with devastating shock—Velma was arrested for murder, and the investigation would reveal- it wasn’t the only one.
 
Sources, photographs, recipes and wine pairings are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com May 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
See you in 2 weeks! 
 

Episode 62- “Serendipity and a Serial Killer” - She Married the Green River Serial Killer Pt 4!

Part 4: Jill chats with the author of She Married the Green River Killer, Pennie Wood. The women speak of serendipity in forging friendships and healing, while uncovering lost memories from Judith Ridgway’s life that enabling the construct the book. Truth revealed, they delve into the normality of Gary Ridgway’s dual life, the roots of his murderous deviance, and a marriage made in deception. Do not miss the insights, peeling back layers to expose truths, and how one woman survived catastrophic change and betrayal.
Sources, photographs, recipes and wine pairings are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, March 2023.
 
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
See you in 2 weeks!

Episode 61- 2ndCast, ‘Rebirth: The Renaissance’- She Married the Green River SerialKiller by Pennie Wood, Pt 3.

Part 3: Denial shattered forever, Gary Ridgway confesses and is sentenced, enveloping wife Judith with the incomprehensible reality- Her Prince Gary did it.  Ridgway best friends, Jim and Linda Bailey share their remembrances; then Gary Ridgway shares, providing disturbing insights. What did he tell Judith, who emerges from the Dark Ages, reborn as she builds a new life, her personal Renaissance.  
AND: Who were the young women strangled by the Green River Killer? All 49 are remembered in this trilogy, updating the case with Jill’s analysis of a serial killer. 
 
Sources, photographs, recipes and wine pairings are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, March 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
See you in 2 weeks!
 

Episode 60-”The Dark Ages”- She Married the Green River Serial Killer by Pennie Wood Pt 2

Part 2: Happily married, Judith Ridgway settles into being the wife of her Prince, Gary Ridgway, nurturing their dogs and cats, her daughters, grandchildren, and Gary’s son.  Living the American dream, Judith gardens and Gary works hard and attends union meetings, life is good—until it all abruptly ends: Gary is arrested for killing 48 women.  World imploding, with him denying he is the killer, Judith is thrown into years of heartbreak, fear, and dismay.  Where there signs she missed? Red Flags? What do you say to your husband, the serial killer? Will Judith survive having her whole world demolished?
 
Trilogy sources, photographs, links, recipe and wine pairing are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, March 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
See you in 2 weeks!
 

Episode 59–‘The Medieval Era’- She Married the Green River Serial Killer by Pennie Wood Pt 1

Part 1: This story begins on the worst day of Judith Ridgway’s life, when detectives came to her home after her husband of 14 year, Gary Leon Ridgway, was arrested. DNA evidence would tie him to victims of the notorious Green River Killer, murdering for over 20 years.  Completely shell shocked, Judith goes is in denial. How had she gotten here? 
Jill examines Judith’s life, difficult childhood, marriage and children while in the Sea-Tac area of Washington, bodies of strangled women are being discovered at great regularity, terror seizing the region. Then, Judith meets Gary, her Prince, and they build a life together, a perfectly normal life as the hunt for a prolific serial killer continues.  
 
Sources, photographs, recipes and wine pairings are found on Jill’s blog at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, March 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
 
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Episode 58 2ndCast -“It is darkest before the dawn”- Last Time We Saw Her by Robert Scott Pt 3

Part 3: Convicted in the Natalie Kirov case, Joel Courtney is finally extradited to Oregon to stand trial for the murder of Brooke Wilberger.  With no body, Prosecutors knew this was not the easiest case to win. What shenanigans will Courtney pull?
Police and the media begin examining other cases that could possibly be linked to Courtney- Katie Eggleston, Stephanie Condon, Leah Freeman, and Kristin Smart.  Was Courtney a serial killer? New, updates on these cases are presented.
 
Check out Jill's blog for show notes, sources, photographs, and maps at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, February 2023.
 
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
"I see you as you hear me!"
 

Episode 57: “Stars cannot shine without darkness.”- Last Time We Saw Her by Robert Scott Pt 2.

Part 2: Brooke Wilberger is missing.  The eager public cooperates fully, sending in over 4500 tips that need investigating, with critical evidence buried in the pile. Of the number of suspects, the most viable is Sung Koo Kim, a man with an underwear fetish, and a trove of evidence on his computer.  But then, a phone call from New Mexico changes everything! There was a similar case in Albuquerque, and a man, Joel Patrick Courtney, had been arrested.  He’d recently lived in Beaverton, Oregon, which was interesting, but could they make a case against Joel?  The number of dots to be connected seem endless.
 
 
Check out Jill's blog for show notes, sources, photographs, and maps at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, Feb. 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
"Trust your gut!"

Episode 56: “The Light That Helps Others”- Last Time We Saw Her by Robert Scott Pt 1

Part 1: 19-year-old Brooke Wilberger lit up the room when she walked in.  She’d just completed her 1st year at Brigham Young University and coming home to her big LDS family in Veneta, Oregon. May 24, 2004, while cleaning lampposts at the apartment complex her sister managed, Brooke vanished.  The resulting investigation would unify the town of Corvallis, Oregon in their determination to find Brooke.  The police investigation unfolds as persons of interest are investigated for similar crimes, the very real terror spreading across the area. 
Written by Robert Scott, who also authored Shattered Innocent on the Kaycee Dugard kidnapping, Jill delves into the twists and turns that relentlessly shape the events that unfold as everyone asks: What happened to Brooke?
Check out Jill's blog for show notes, sources, photographs, and maps at www.murdershelfbookclub.com, Feb 2023.
ANNOUNCEMENT- JAN 2025:  My new Murder Shelf Book Club Podcast MERCH SHOP has launched!  Please go explore! I appreciate you supporting my true crime book club podcast!
Share your thoughts with me at  jill@murdershelfbookclub.com, on X,  Facebook,  Instagram or YouTube.  OR, join Jill on PATREON for $4 and help pick our next book and talk true crime developments, first Thursday of each month at 8:30 pm EST!
Music- The Pewter Elephant by Blue Dot Sessions.
 
"Trust your gut!"