# The Big Story: Death in the Family (EP4977)

An episode of [The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/335549005), 19 May 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdrl.fm/997ffb/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/72065209/gd4977.mp3

Today’s Mystery:Two children are murdered, apparently killed by their father in a murder-suicide, but a reporter senses that something is wrong. Original Radio Broadcast: June 21, 1950 \ Originating from New YorkStarring: Larry Haines as William Noble; Barbara Weeks; Bill Smith; Bob Dryden Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net Patreon Supporter of the Day: Damien, Patreon supporter since March 2024 Support the show on a one-time basis at http://support.greatdetectives.net. Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715 Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net Give us a call at 208-991-4783 Follow us on Instagram at http://instagram.com/greatdetectives Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives Join us again tomorrow for another detective drama from the Golden Age of Radio.

## Transcript

[0:28] Speaker 1: Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
[0:36] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, I'm
[0:39] Speaker 1: going to bring you this week's episode of The Big Story.
[0:44] Speaker 1: But first I do want to encourage you. If you
[0:47] Speaker 1: are enjoying the podcast, please follow us using your favorite
[0:51] Speaker 1: podcast software. And I want to encourage you to check
[0:55] Speaker 1: out our other podcast and today I'm highlighting the amazing
[1:00] Speaker 1: world of radio. The Amazing World of Radio will be
[1:03] Speaker 1: starting its summer season coming up May twenty seventh, and
[1:08] Speaker 1: we will be featuring Colombo Killers in Old Time Radio.
[1:13] Speaker 1: And that's just what it sounds like radio programs that
[1:17] Speaker 1: feature actors who played the killer in an episode of Colombo.
[1:22] Speaker 1: Do check that out at Amazing Great Detectives dot net.
[1:26] Speaker 1: Now a little bit of an apology. This week's episode
[1:32] Speaker 1: should have been played last week. We got out of
[1:34] Speaker 1: order just because I looked at the wrong episode and
[1:38] Speaker 1: didn't realize the problem until it was too late to
[1:40] Speaker 1: fix it. So with that said, today's episode originally aired
[1:46] Speaker 1: June twenty first, nineteen fifty and the title is Death
[1:51] Speaker 1: in the Family, The Big Story.
[2:05] Speaker 2: Mommy, moumy, I'm driving as fast as I can and
[2:10] Speaker 2: I'm reading.
[2:11] Speaker 3: Momy would be in the hospital in a few minutes. Mummy,
[2:15] Speaker 3: I don't feels good. Keep your hands tight over the
[2:19] Speaker 3: pullet hole. I'm going to die. I'm going to die. No,
[2:26] Speaker 3: you'll be all right as soon as I can get
[2:28] Speaker 3: you to the.
[2:38] Speaker 4: Lapire Michigan. The story of a reporter who followed through
[2:42] Speaker 4: to the end one of the most brutal atrocities in
[2:45] Speaker 4: American criminal history. LaPier, Michigan. The story is that actually happened.
[2:56] Speaker 4: Bill Noble's story as he lived.
[2:58] Speaker 5: It, Michigan, Indian summer.
[3:16] Speaker 6: Midnight and you, Bill Noble, reporter for the Lapere Press,
[3:21] Speaker 6: are driving home after a pleasant visit to the friend.
[3:25] Speaker 6: The night hangs softly, peacefully over the dark rolling hill.
[3:30] Speaker 6: Ahead of you. A strange light flickers. You wonder what
[3:34] Speaker 6: it is, But as you come nearer you stop wondering.
[3:39] Speaker 6: You can see a house burning. Now the entire upper
[3:43] Speaker 6: floor is a flame. As you drive into the grounds,
[3:47] Speaker 6: your headlights light up a man and a young boy
[3:52] Speaker 6: lying on the ground.
[3:53] Speaker 7: Both obviously, Bill, do you know about this or soon?
[4:01] Speaker 8: I was just passing by a shair said this is awful.
[4:03] Speaker 7: Just got here myself.
[4:04] Speaker 4: Hey, you the chair.
[4:05] Speaker 7: That's right.
[4:06] Speaker 9: I'm a neighbor, Javitch my name. I just looked through
[4:09] Speaker 9: the house. There's no one else in there.
[4:10] Speaker 5: Helly, Helly, who are you calling?
[4:12] Speaker 9: My daughter? She said? The wife and another child was
[4:14] Speaker 9: still in the house. But I find the ain't no
[4:17] Speaker 9: one in the house, Ellie.
[4:18] Speaker 3: But Steve said they was.
[4:19] Speaker 9: I looked upstairs and downstairs until the smoke drove me out.
[4:22] Speaker 9: I tell you there ain't no one.
[4:23] Speaker 7: In there who's supposed to be in there, his wife
[4:25] Speaker 7: and daughter.
[4:26] Speaker 9: I'd living room downstairs a bloody mess, but all over
[4:29] Speaker 9: on the chairs, so far, on the rug.
[4:31] Speaker 8: Even on the walls.
[4:32] Speaker 3: The dead man Steve will check his little boy poll.
[4:34] Speaker 8: Do you have any idea who shut it?
[4:36] Speaker 3: He got it himself, killed hisself in pull.
[4:38] Speaker 7: How do you know?
[4:39] Speaker 3: I live across the road. I was just going to
[4:41] Speaker 3: bed when I saw the fire. I ran over and
[4:43] Speaker 3: I saw Steve dumbling out of the house, holding Paul
[4:46] Speaker 3: in his arms. I asked him, what happened to you?
[4:49] Speaker 3: He said, I did it. I shot Paul and myself.
[4:52] Speaker 3: Then I asked him where's the I don wind. He
[4:54] Speaker 3: just pointed to the burning house, and then he died.
[4:57] Speaker 3: We were all.
[5:00] Speaker 8: You might have shot his wife and daughter too.
[5:02] Speaker 9: I must have gotten away because no one's in there.
[5:04] Speaker 7: Why to do it? Was he crazy?
[5:06] Speaker 3: It was always jealous of ID, always suspicion.
[5:10] Speaker 5: Chre A.
[5:12] Speaker 10: I palled him about the fire to state police run
[5:14] Speaker 10: their way down. There's also been a bad crack up
[5:16] Speaker 10: on New forty two, two miles out of Hillscale.
[5:18] Speaker 8: Oh night, lot of houses of Garner running out to
[5:21] Speaker 8: roof to sell a book.
[5:22] Speaker 7: No one's in there, that's the hexagon sergeant, whether the
[5:24] Speaker 7: local or a tourist car a local woman by the
[5:26] Speaker 7: name of Ida Wood checking her daughter where they took
[5:29] Speaker 7: them over to the car and hospital.
[5:31] Speaker 5: Look they go to the house.
[5:41] Speaker 6: The horror of it has caught your Bill, Noburne. You
[5:45] Speaker 6: race along with the sheriff to the hospital, wanting to
[5:48] Speaker 6: know more of this tragedy. You wonder what can possess
[5:53] Speaker 6: the man to shoot his own child. You wonder how
[5:56] Speaker 6: his wife eyed? I can live through this tragedy.
[6:00] Speaker 8: At the hospital, you'll listen and she tells her story
[6:03] Speaker 8: to the sheriff.
[6:04] Speaker 3: He's been plaguing me all day about him.
[6:08] Speaker 7: Who is him?
[6:09] Speaker 2: Missus Wilschack hired hands Chuck Snyders. My husband had a
[6:13] Speaker 2: silly idea that Chuck and I were too friendly. That's
[6:16] Speaker 2: why I fired him. What haven't we stopped off at
[6:20] Speaker 2: Ross's Bar for a beer. Beer always calmed him down,
[6:23] Speaker 2: But to day he got worse.
[6:25] Speaker 7: He went directly home from there.
[6:27] Speaker 3: That's right, and I went to bed.
[6:29] Speaker 7: What about your kids?
[6:30] Speaker 2: They were all right, They were asleep when we got home.
[6:34] Speaker 2: I wasn't sleeping more half an hour when I woke up.
[6:36] Speaker 2: Suddenly there he was standing, all dressed with a gun
[6:41] Speaker 2: in his hand.
[6:43] Speaker 3: I screamed and ran. He fired at me and missed.
[6:47] Speaker 2: I ran outside into the fields, and then I heard
[6:49] Speaker 2: some more shots. I ran back, didn't see him, so
[6:53] Speaker 2: I ran to the kid's room, and I saw Linda
[6:56] Speaker 2: was shot. I grabbed her and ran for the car.
[7:00] Speaker 2: Go as fast as I put at the hospital.
[7:02] Speaker 11: Because she was going to just up to your boy, Paul.
[7:04] Speaker 7: Don't you worried about him too.
[7:06] Speaker 3: He loved Paul more than anything. I didn't believe he
[7:09] Speaker 3: would ever hurt him. He killed my board.
[7:14] Speaker 6: You listen to her story, Belle Melbourne. You listen to
[7:24] Speaker 6: her cry and consolably. There isn't much more to known except.
[7:29] Speaker 7: How our little daughter is.
[7:30] Speaker 6: Making out in her fight for life. And so you
[7:34] Speaker 6: go and see the doctor down at the other end
[7:36] Speaker 6: of the corner, hoping hard that the doctor will tell
[7:39] Speaker 6: you the one piece of good news in this terrible tragedy.
[7:43] Speaker 8: I am sorry, but I cannot let you in. Well, doctor,
[7:46] Speaker 8: could you tell me how she's doing? Who are you?
[7:48] Speaker 8: I'm from the Lapia Press reported the girl's.
[7:50] Speaker 12: Dying, dying. She's delirious in not saying anything that makes sense.
[7:55] Speaker 12: There's no point and no good reason why she should
[7:57] Speaker 12: be visited. There's no hope, none.
[8:14] Speaker 11: Well, Sheriff, what do you think it's open and shot?
[8:17] Speaker 7: Murder and suicide? Steven Wolcheck, we're alive. We'd hang him.
[8:22] Speaker 8: Tell me what makes a man kill his own kids?
[8:25] Speaker 7: Some in a bond lunatics?
[8:28] Speaker 8: Well, I'm going back to my office and write up
[8:30] Speaker 8: the story. Oh, by the way, Sheriff, what was the
[8:34] Speaker 8: name of the tavern? Missus Wilchick said she and her
[8:36] Speaker 8: husband were at.
[8:39] Speaker 7: Oh.
[8:39] Speaker 8: I think I'll just stop by there, give me a beer.
[8:53] Speaker 5: I'll let me frand beer. Yeah.
[9:00] Speaker 8: Say, did you hear about the wood check?
[9:03] Speaker 5: Yeah? Just can't believe it.
[9:06] Speaker 8: Missus Wolcheck said, she was in here just before her
[9:09] Speaker 8: husband went with circ weren't they in here? Yeah? But
[9:15] Speaker 8: they fight about it.
[9:16] Speaker 9: I never listened to other people's troubles, mister.
[9:19] Speaker 8: Old people quarrely, just can't help listen. He maybe you can't.
[9:23] Speaker 5: I can't.
[9:23] Speaker 7: Look.
[9:24] Speaker 8: I've told Noble from the look here pressing reporter, I'd
[9:26] Speaker 8: been much obliged if you'd help me.
[9:28] Speaker 5: I told you, mister, I never listen.
[9:32] Speaker 12: Excuse me, but my name's Tom Hatcher. Don't bother in
[9:35] Speaker 12: inducing yourself. I always listening on other people's conversations. At
[9:40] Speaker 12: least you're honest. Tell your something, mister Noble, that might
[9:42] Speaker 12: interest you. I knew Steve will Check pretty well.
[9:46] Speaker 8: You did no one him ever since he came to
[9:48] Speaker 8: this country years ago. What was he like? Here's a
[9:50] Speaker 8: good Joe, A good joe, the man that murders his
[9:54] Speaker 8: two kids.
[9:55] Speaker 12: Just telling you what I knew about him. I guess
[9:57] Speaker 12: I know him as well as anyone wanted to get
[9:59] Speaker 12: a worked hard. It's crazy for his kids spoke English
[10:04] Speaker 12: very bad. So we went to night school in ordered
[10:05] Speaker 12: for his kids not to grow up with an accent.
[10:08] Speaker 12: But even night school didn't help him much, and we
[10:10] Speaker 12: got excited each obbed away and polish.
[10:13] Speaker 8: You were a good friend of his, weren't you? I was?
[10:16] Speaker 12: And I'm telling you the truth about Steve. I'd gave
[10:19] Speaker 12: him plenty of reason to hate her. She always poked
[10:21] Speaker 12: fun at him, was poor English, was being left handed,
[10:25] Speaker 12: there's being such a meek mouse with his boss at everything.
[10:30] Speaker 12: Maybe if he was, she made him crazy, I'd have
[10:34] Speaker 12: loved a good time. She and a girlfriend, always cutting up,
[10:37] Speaker 12: a girlfriend, a neighbor, Ellie Javitts, Javitts. And then she
[10:41] Speaker 12: carried on with a Chuck Snyder at a hard hand
[10:44] Speaker 12: name with a police record.
[10:46] Speaker 8: Yeah, but none of this adds up the killing his
[10:47] Speaker 8: own kids. I know it. Doubt, mister Nova. That's why
[10:50] Speaker 8: I'm telling you.
[10:58] Speaker 6: It's hard for you to believe Tom Hatches story, Bill Melbourne.
[11:01] Speaker 6: But now you have your teeth in a case that's
[11:03] Speaker 6: not so open and shut. There's some doubt, and you
[11:07] Speaker 6: have to wipe out that doubt.
[11:09] Speaker 5: You go to see some of the neighbors.
[11:11] Speaker 13: Now, look here, young fella, I don't believe everything they're
[11:14] Speaker 13: writing them newspapers. Steve wouldn't even go rabbit hunting. He
[11:17] Speaker 13: was against killing anything. Now, how can you figure him
[11:20] Speaker 13: killing his own two kids he worshiped. Tell me that, yes,
[11:30] Speaker 13: I know him.
[11:30] Speaker 11: I liked him, so did everyone in Hillsdale. You won't
[11:33] Speaker 11: find a soul with a bad wood for him, not blood.
[11:41] Speaker 5: You do a pretty thorough job.
[11:43] Speaker 6: I'm interviewing the neighbors, Bill Melbourne, and now you're full
[11:46] Speaker 6: of doubts. You go and see Elie Javis, a girl
[11:50] Speaker 6: who saw Steve Wocheck die, and as you talk to her,
[11:54] Speaker 6: you watch her nervously torture a handkerchief.
[11:57] Speaker 8: She scarcely looked at you.
[12:00] Speaker 3: I told you what I heard mister Wilchick say, I
[12:02] Speaker 3: did it. I killed Paul and myself.
[12:04] Speaker 8: He didn't mention Linda's name.
[12:05] Speaker 3: I don't remember hearing him say anything about Linda.
[12:09] Speaker 8: Tell me, do you speak Polish, miss Javits or understand it?
[12:12] Speaker 7: No?
[12:13] Speaker 8: Did you ever hear mister Wilchick speak Polish.
[12:16] Speaker 3: When you never wanted you? I don't know when you're
[12:19] Speaker 3: asking me real fool questions?
[12:20] Speaker 8: Or didn't he laughs into Polish whenever he became excited
[12:23] Speaker 8: or upset?
[12:23] Speaker 3: Yes, yes he did.
[12:25] Speaker 8: Do you think he'd be excited or upset after having
[12:27] Speaker 8: shot himself and his two kids?
[12:28] Speaker 3: You're asking me too many questions. I don't know what
[12:31] Speaker 3: you mean.
[12:31] Speaker 8: I mean that Steve Wolcheck would have confessed in Polish,
[12:35] Speaker 8: and even if his last dying words were in English,
[12:37] Speaker 8: they certainly wouldn't have been so clear and grammatic.
[12:40] Speaker 3: I told you what I heard. You want me to lie.
[12:43] Speaker 8: No, I don't, Miss Javits, You'll go to prisoner you lie.
[12:48] Speaker 8: This case is going to be reopened. You're gonna have
[12:51] Speaker 8: to swear that you heard mister Wilchick say he did it.
[12:55] Speaker 8: And we know that you and Ida are pretty close friends.
[12:58] Speaker 8: If you're protecting her or that hired man, Chuck Snyder,
[13:01] Speaker 8: you'll be in serious trouble.
[13:03] Speaker 3: That's what I heard him say.
[13:04] Speaker 8: I'm almost sure he said that you'd better be absolutely sure,
[13:08] Speaker 8: Miss Jans, because I don't think Steve Wick murdered his family.
[13:39] Speaker 6: This is Si Harris returning it to your narrator and
[13:42] Speaker 6: the big story of William T.
[13:44] Speaker 11: Noble as he lived it and wrote it.
[13:48] Speaker 6: As you hurried to the Sheriff's office, Bill Noble, reporter
[13:51] Speaker 6: on the Lafir Press with a new evidence about Steve
[13:54] Speaker 6: Walcheck's character, your mind goes back to the side of
[13:58] Speaker 6: him dead clutching his dead son, klose to him. That's
[14:03] Speaker 6: a sight you can't forget or forgive. You're determined to
[14:07] Speaker 6: find the murderer. And at the moment you're in the
[14:10] Speaker 6: sheriff's office discussing the case.
[14:13] Speaker 7: You interviewed all the neighbors, Bill.
[14:14] Speaker 8: Most everyone, Sheriff. Not one bad word for him, not
[14:17] Speaker 8: one good word for Ida.
[14:19] Speaker 7: You want me to reopen the case.
[14:21] Speaker 8: Let's take it words it?
[14:22] Speaker 7: Who could be?
[14:25] Speaker 5: Say, Sheriff.
[14:27] Speaker 8: I was just wondering that bullet wound that killed Walchak?
[14:30] Speaker 11: Where was it?
[14:31] Speaker 8: Heber er?
[14:32] Speaker 7: Not exactly. It was on the side under the arm pit,
[14:36] Speaker 7: Which one right or left? I don't remember why?
[14:38] Speaker 8: Well, he was left handed, he would only have shot
[14:41] Speaker 8: himself on the left side.
[14:43] Speaker 11: Oh, no, call the undertaker's water is still there? He hello, ed,
[14:53] Speaker 11: this is the sheriff.
[14:54] Speaker 7: Say take a look at the report on Stephen Walcheck
[14:56] Speaker 7: and tell me where the bullet wound is? Right or
[14:58] Speaker 7: left side? Okay, I'll hold on, don't take a look. No,
[15:05] Speaker 7: it seems to me. Hello, the right side. You're sure?
[15:11] Speaker 11: Now?
[15:12] Speaker 7: Okay? Thanks, that's it.
[15:14] Speaker 8: He couldn't have killed himself.
[15:16] Speaker 7: Are you sure he was left handed?
[15:17] Speaker 8: And several people told me so.
[15:18] Speaker 7: Maybe a left handed man could shoot himself in the
[15:20] Speaker 7: right side, take a gun and try.
[15:21] Speaker 11: It could be done.
[15:27] Speaker 8: Would be awkward, Sheriff, A man that's about to commit
[15:29] Speaker 8: suicide isn't going to take any chances of Philly.
[15:31] Speaker 11: Okay, the case is officially real opened.
[15:33] Speaker 8: Okay, we have two suspects, missus idawoll check him. The
[15:37] Speaker 8: hired man, Chuck Snyder.
[15:38] Speaker 7: You know, the probability is that Chuck snyders are man.
[15:40] Speaker 8: As a police right.
[15:41] Speaker 7: I know. I checked him, but it's all small stuff,
[15:43] Speaker 7: disorderly conduct, Petty Steven Still, I'm going to arrest him.
[15:47] Speaker 6: You want to come along, But Chuck Snyder is no
[16:00] Speaker 6: to be found. The sheriff rolls up his sleeves and
[16:02] Speaker 6: goes to work. And now the whole state is alerted.
[16:05] Speaker 6: But Chuck Snyder, every policeman and detective in Michigan is
[16:08] Speaker 6: on the lookout for a tall, heavy set, black haired man.
[16:12] Speaker 6: Within a few hours, they find him a little town
[16:16] Speaker 6: right outside of Detroit. His brother's home, he said for
[16:20] Speaker 6: the sheriff while he questions him.
[16:22] Speaker 7: Why did you do it? Snyder? To what murdered Steve
[16:24] Speaker 7: Wilchack and his kids?
[16:25] Speaker 8: Murder.
[16:26] Speaker 5: The Are you crazy?
[16:27] Speaker 7: If you didn't do it? Why did you run away?
[16:28] Speaker 5: I didn't run away. I was fired.
[16:31] Speaker 7: You were a close friend of missus wolcheck.
[16:33] Speaker 10: Weren't you I worked for on the phone? Answer the question, Yes,
[16:38] Speaker 10: I was a friend of hers. But you're not gonna
[16:40] Speaker 10: pin this thing on me. No, sir, You've got a
[16:42] Speaker 10: long police record.
[16:43] Speaker 5: And no child killer. I ain't never killed anyone.
[16:45] Speaker 7: Did kill Steve?
[16:46] Speaker 2: No?
[16:46] Speaker 5: I did?
[16:46] Speaker 7: Did she tell you to do it?
[16:47] Speaker 5: I ain't kill anyone.
[16:48] Speaker 7: Ill.
[16:48] Speaker 11: Where were you on the night of the murder?
[16:50] Speaker 7: That's what I said.
[16:51] Speaker 10: I was Detroit. That's where I was. Where in Detroit
[16:54] Speaker 10: the Marquette restaurant I worked? There was a waiter until
[16:57] Speaker 10: eleven thirty every night.
[16:58] Speaker 7: I can prove it.
[16:59] Speaker 5: You ain't gonna pinis say, I may. I can prove it.
[17:01] Speaker 5: Call him up.
[17:02] Speaker 10: Go ahead and call them.
[17:07] Speaker 7: He proved that too.
[17:08] Speaker 6: Bell Novel, the owner of the Marquette restaurant, cleared him.
[17:12] Speaker 6: It was impossible for Chuck Snyder to have been in
[17:15] Speaker 6: Detroit and at the scene of the crime at the
[17:17] Speaker 6: same time.
[17:18] Speaker 7: I'm letting you go, Snyder, but don't you go run away.
[17:21] Speaker 7: I want you to stay in town. I may be
[17:23] Speaker 7: needing you.
[17:23] Speaker 5: I ain't running.
[17:24] Speaker 10: I don't like cats chasing me with their guns out
[17:27] Speaker 10: of their pockets.
[17:32] Speaker 7: Well, there goes our best suspect that leads a silly
[17:34] Speaker 7: what either will check? I can't be heard. No woman
[17:38] Speaker 7: would murder her own children, sheriff, you were ready to
[17:40] Speaker 7: believe the father did I don't know what to believe anymore.
[17:44] Speaker 7: She's still in the hospital. No, she's been discharged, living
[17:48] Speaker 7: with her sister. I think I'll pick her up and
[17:51] Speaker 7: start asking a few questions.
[18:10] Speaker 6: While they're bringing in an idle. WoT check you, Bill Noble.
[18:14] Speaker 6: Go back to the hospital, have a talk with the doctor.
[18:17] Speaker 6: Perhaps Linda had regained consciousness before she died, Perhaps she
[18:21] Speaker 6: had said something that might be of some help.
[18:25] Speaker 8: Yes, mister Noble, what can I do for you? A doctor?
[18:27] Speaker 12: I'm the reporter from the Lapa Press. Oh, yes, you
[18:30] Speaker 12: were in here about a week ago.
[18:31] Speaker 8: I'd tell me. Did Linda ever regain consciousness? Not really?
[18:35] Speaker 12: She was never completely lucid. Plucky little girl fought very
[18:41] Speaker 12: hard to live, but the odds were too much against her.
[18:43] Speaker 12: Did she say anything at all before she died? Well,
[18:46] Speaker 12: she kept repeating, Mammy shot me mammy shot me. Sure course,
[18:49] Speaker 12: I'm sure she was delirious. I can't go buy that
[18:53] Speaker 12: too much. People are able to say anything in their delirium.
[18:56] Speaker 8: Anything. Yes, did she ever say that? Her daddy shout no, No,
[19:01] Speaker 8: she didn't, thank you. That's all I want to know.
[19:15] Speaker 11: I've been talking to idel war Check for five hours.
[19:17] Speaker 7: I didn't get the first base.
[19:18] Speaker 8: She sticks to a story. I share it.
[19:19] Speaker 7: Oh, she tells one story over and over again. Drop
[19:22] Speaker 7: her hat and repeat the whole thing word for word.
[19:24] Speaker 7: Can't break her or shake.
[19:25] Speaker 8: You have to keep trying.
[19:27] Speaker 7: I know human nature. She's lying. Her story is too smooth.
[19:31] Speaker 7: She remembers too many important details. She's too composed for
[19:34] Speaker 7: a woman who's two kids have been murdered.
[19:36] Speaker 8: I share if she's not really composed, she's just holding tight.
[19:39] Speaker 7: That's what I think. But it's no good unless we've
[19:41] Speaker 7: got a confession. We'll never convict her. Otherwise.
[19:44] Speaker 8: Look, can I talk to me?
[19:46] Speaker 7: Sure, come on, I'll take you over the cell.
[19:48] Speaker 8: I've got it myself. I've got to do a lot.
[20:03] Speaker 8: Hello missus Woodchake.
[20:04] Speaker 3: Hello.
[20:06] Speaker 8: Oh, I'm not a detective, just a reporter from the
[20:09] Speaker 8: Lapeer Press.
[20:10] Speaker 3: Why did they open this case again after my husband confessed.
[20:14] Speaker 8: Oh that's the police for you, always looking to stir
[20:16] Speaker 8: up things.
[20:17] Speaker 3: Have no right to keep me here.
[20:18] Speaker 8: Oh they'll have to let you go pretty soon the
[20:21] Speaker 8: way I see. If they haven't got a leg to
[20:22] Speaker 8: stand on, it must.
[20:23] Speaker 3: Be crazy to think a mother could kill her own kid. Besides,
[20:27] Speaker 3: didn't Steve confess that he did it?
[20:28] Speaker 7: Well?
[20:29] Speaker 8: I really think they opened his case for some political reason.
[20:32] Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought that's it true.
[20:35] Speaker 8: Just don't let yourself get panicky say the wrong things.
[20:38] Speaker 2: I won't.
[20:39] Speaker 3: My story's perfect.
[20:41] Speaker 8: Well, I've got by tomorrow. Let you know what's happening.
[20:43] Speaker 8: My paper's out to see that you get a fair deal,
[20:45] Speaker 8: Missus Woodchake. And besides, why, well, you're the prettiest prisoners
[20:52] Speaker 8: they ever had in this prison.
[20:54] Speaker 3: Nice of you to say that.
[20:57] Speaker 8: Thanks hello, Missus Woodchake. How they treating you? Rotten foods? Terrible?
[21:15] Speaker 8: You just keep calm.
[21:16] Speaker 2: I'm not worried.
[21:18] Speaker 8: They've been working on Ellie Jabbetts. She's not so sure
[21:21] Speaker 8: now that Steve confessed.
[21:23] Speaker 3: That little hussy. What's you afraid of? They can't do
[21:25] Speaker 3: anything to her, of.
[21:26] Speaker 8: Course not, but she's getting very jittery. Say, look, do
[21:31] Speaker 8: you mind if I take your picture? Missus will chake
[21:33] Speaker 8: for the paper? Sure? Sure, okay, fine? Your profile that
[21:38] Speaker 8: makes you look best? Oh, I hope it comes out
[21:45] Speaker 8: as pretty as you really are.
[21:53] Speaker 5: Day after day for two weeks. You bill noble what
[21:57] Speaker 5: to say.
[21:58] Speaker 6: He became friendly with her, broke down some of her resistance.
[22:02] Speaker 6: She looked forward to seeing you every day. You confide
[22:06] Speaker 6: it in I, and in turn, she began to confide
[22:09] Speaker 6: in you little things, nothing important, but you'd opened the door.
[22:14] Speaker 2: Hello, Ida, wealthy gett't set up with his place.
[22:19] Speaker 8: You could learn how to relax.
[22:20] Speaker 3: Anything new happened in my case.
[22:22] Speaker 8: Yeah, the bed pretty bad?
[22:27] Speaker 3: Tell me.
[22:29] Speaker 8: Well. They got Ellie to admit that she wasn't sure
[22:33] Speaker 8: what it was Steve said before he died. Instead of
[22:37] Speaker 8: being sure that he said I did it, she now
[22:40] Speaker 8: agrees it sounded more like Ida did it. No, No,
[22:44] Speaker 8: I have a police to figured out something else. Steve
[22:47] Speaker 8: couldn't have shot himself. He was left handed. He was
[22:49] Speaker 8: shot on the right side.
[22:51] Speaker 3: He wasn't left handed.
[22:52] Speaker 14: He was right handed.
[22:52] Speaker 8: There are six neighbors who are ready to swear that
[22:55] Speaker 8: he was left handed.
[22:56] Speaker 14: I didn't do it.
[22:58] Speaker 3: I wouldn't kill my own kids. You believe me.
[23:01] Speaker 8: I'm just telling you what the police are doing.
[23:04] Speaker 3: Jock did it.
[23:05] Speaker 8: He's the one who didn't. No, No, he didn't. He
[23:07] Speaker 8: was in Detroit at the time. He can prove it.
[23:09] Speaker 3: I fear I didn't do it. You believe me, Bill,
[23:13] Speaker 3: don't you please.
[23:14] Speaker 8: The doctor that traded poor Linda also told the police
[23:17] Speaker 8: that Linda kept saying, Mommy shot me, mommy shot On
[23:21] Speaker 8: the way here, I stopped by your house, burnt to
[23:26] Speaker 8: the ground, but I found this toy, a walking chirping bird.
[23:32] Speaker 8: I see it's still good. The fire never touched it.
[23:40] Speaker 3: Police.
[23:44] Speaker 8: The doctor also said that Linda wasn't angry at you
[23:47] Speaker 8: before she died. She kept calling for mommy until the end.
[23:52] Speaker 8: My bit, my baby, Ida. You'll never be able to
[23:56] Speaker 8: sleep again until you get it off your mind. If
[23:58] Speaker 8: you'll tell your part, you'll never have a moment's peace.
[24:00] Speaker 8: It'll shake you to bits, It'll drive your stock staring mad.
[24:03] Speaker 8: Let's you talk. Might not tell it to you. You
[24:07] Speaker 8: can't keep it inside. Jenny longer. Tell it to me. Ida.
[24:10] Speaker 5: Tell me.
[24:16] Speaker 3: He wanted to take to his mother. He said I
[24:21] Speaker 3: wasn't fit to take care of him. Told him if
[24:24] Speaker 3: he ever tried to take the kids away. I killed him.
[24:30] Speaker 15: We had a terrible fight. When we got home. I
[24:35] Speaker 15: took a gun and shot him and the kids. I
[24:39] Speaker 15: was crazy killing my old baby.
[24:45] Speaker 3: When I saw little Linda lying on the floor, I
[24:48] Speaker 3: realized what.
[24:49] Speaker 15: A dreadful thing I did.
[24:52] Speaker 3: I grabbed her up and over to the hospital.
[24:57] Speaker 8: Who forgives me?
[25:00] Speaker 3: The Lord will never forgive me for this horrible thing ever.
[25:23] Speaker 4: Now we read you that telegram from William T. Noble
[25:25] Speaker 4: of the Lapire Michigan Press.
[25:27] Speaker 8: Murderous in Tonight's Big Story, pleaded guilty and was sentenced
[25:30] Speaker 8: to life imprisonment at the Detroit House of Correction. At
[25:34] Speaker 8: the trial, the judge said, there is no power in
[25:37] Speaker 8: this court to punish the accused more than she has
[25:40] Speaker 8: punished herself. For the rest of her life, she will
[25:42] Speaker 8: be faced with the horror of what she did.
[25:52] Speaker 14: And so ends another Big Story.
[25:55] Speaker 16: In order to protect the names of people actually involved
[25:58] Speaker 16: into Night's authentic Big Story, the names of all characters
[26:02] Speaker 16: and the dramatization were changed. With the exception of the
[26:04] Speaker 16: newspaper reporter. The Big Story has been a presentation of
[26:08] Speaker 16: the United States Armed Forces Radio Service, the Voice of
[26:12] Speaker 16: Information and Education.
[27:28] Speaker 1: Welcome back. A rough one here. Let's go ahead and
[27:32] Speaker 1: start with the cast information. Mister Noble was played, of
[27:36] Speaker 1: course by Larry Haynes, a veteran of many detective programs.
[27:41] Speaker 1: Also in the Ask Pat Howsley, Barbara Weeks, Bill Smith,
[27:47] Speaker 1: Bob Dryden, Grant Richards, and Jason Johnson and pretty much
[27:52] Speaker 1: everybody but mister Haynes double one up in this episode. Now,
[27:57] Speaker 1: the story was based on real life events September nineteen
[28:03] Speaker 1: forty one where Julie Kohlanich killed her husband, their daughter,
[28:10] Speaker 1: and son, and then she set the fire and killed himself.
[28:16] Speaker 1: And her story was initially believed, but the reporter kept
[28:19] Speaker 1: at it and through several interviews really came to the
[28:24] Speaker 1: conclusion that she was the one who did it, and
[28:27] Speaker 1: she confesssed five months later and was convicted of second
[28:31] Speaker 1: degree murder and manslaughter and was sentenced to life in prison.
[28:37] Speaker 1: And this is a case that illustrates why The Big
[28:41] Speaker 1: Story did things the way they did in terms of
[28:46] Speaker 1: changing the names, because Koulanich, when the story was announced,
[28:52] Speaker 1: sued and she wanted to stop the broadcast to quote
[28:57] Speaker 1: unquote preserve her privacy and to protect her from harassment.
[29:01] Speaker 1: Ridicule and humiliation. There was an injunction placed, and then
[29:08] Speaker 1: it was appealed in the afternoon, and then the injunction
[29:14] Speaker 1: was vacated, and then the show aired, and Doctor Joe
[29:19] Speaker 1: Web notes in his stories behind the Big Story website
[29:23] Speaker 1: that this suit might have been an effort to annoy
[29:27] Speaker 1: William Noble, who she thought had betrayed her or misled her.
[29:32] Speaker 1: Web notes that information on mister Noble is kind of
[29:35] Speaker 1: hard to find. He bounced around a lot. He went
[29:39] Speaker 1: to California for a while and ran some small newspapers
[29:46] Speaker 1: and then ended up coming back to the Michigan area
[29:50] Speaker 1: to Detroit to work for the Free Press for a while,
[29:54] Speaker 1: and then had a lot of freelance gigs into the
[29:58] Speaker 1: nineteen seventy. Well, now it is time to thank our
[30:02] Speaker 1: Patreon supporter of the day. Thank you to Damien, Patreon
[30:08] Speaker 1: supporter since March twenty twenty forty podcast at the rookie
[30:12] Speaker 1: level of two dollars or more per month. Thanks so
[30:15] Speaker 1: much for your support, Damien, and that will do it
[30:18] Speaker 1: for today. If you're enjoying the podcast, please follow up
[30:22] Speaker 1: using your favorite podcast software. And if you're enjoying the
[30:26] Speaker 1: podcast on YouTube, be sure to lock the video, subscribe
[30:30] Speaker 1: to the channel, and mark the notification bell, all those
[30:34] Speaker 1: great things that help YouTube channels to grow. We'll be
[30:37] Speaker 1: back next Tuesday with another episode of the Big Story,
[30:41] Speaker 1: but join us back here tomorrow for Broadways my Bait.
[30:45] Speaker 8: Where you killed him man tonight, Russ, I didn't kill him. Well,
[30:49] Speaker 8: maybe you didn't mean to it.
[30:50] Speaker 10: First, Maybe you forgot the boy with fish like yours
[30:53] Speaker 10: deadly weapons we call it. A fighter can kill them
[30:56] Speaker 10: out easy with hands like you.
[30:58] Speaker 7: I told you you haven't rushed, you haven't told a thing. Excepter.
[31:01] Speaker 11: We were in the bar.
[31:02] Speaker 17: I was sitting there with my friend. Let's talk him.
[31:05] Speaker 17: This guy came up the slumber drunk, tried to pick
[31:09] Speaker 17: a fight, and they do that sometimes gives him kicks
[31:12] Speaker 17: because I remember I was a fighter once.
[31:14] Speaker 7: Sure, sure they do that.
[31:17] Speaker 8: But this one you took out in the alley, lead
[31:19] Speaker 8: him to death, murdered him. Yeah.
[31:22] Speaker 17: I took him out in the alley, put my arm
[31:24] Speaker 17: around him and tried to talk to him, reason with him.
[31:28] Speaker 17: I am crazy, I had to do that sometimes. I
[31:31] Speaker 17: walked him up the alley from the bar. He broke away,
[31:34] Speaker 17: pulled a jack knet came after him passed out before
[31:38] Speaker 17: he got and he poor, miserable drunk. And after that
[31:45] Speaker 17: I didn't touch him, just walked away from him, turned around,
[31:49] Speaker 17: walked away down the other end of the alley, went home.
[31:53] Speaker 5: Hello, boy, guess what I got?
[31:57] Speaker 8: We give up, Webster?
[31:58] Speaker 7: What have you got?
[31:58] Speaker 18: I'll rip I have eleven rip as corps.
[32:02] Speaker 5: Don't talk to them anymore or us. Boy, you don't
[32:04] Speaker 5: have to.
[32:04] Speaker 14: I'm taking you away from all this.
[32:07] Speaker 8: I know, boy, I know.
[32:09] Speaker 11: I'm a friend of a friend of your fellow.
[32:11] Speaker 5: You haven't been very nice to Jack Coby, your.
[32:13] Speaker 18: Former manager, but he's your nice to you coobyl here ye,
[32:17] Speaker 18: I had old Billy Webster counselor. And you're going to
[32:20] Speaker 18: get up and walk out of here just because I
[32:22] Speaker 18: say Sosney.
[32:24] Speaker 7: Boy, Yeah, and you two webs to leave with them.
[32:28] Speaker 1: Hope you'll be with us then in the meantime. Send
[32:31] Speaker 1: your comments to Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net.
[32:35] Speaker 1: Follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives, and follow us
[32:39] Speaker 1: on Instagram, Instagram, dot com slash Great Detectives from Boise, Idaho.
[32:45] Speaker 1: This is your host, Adam Graham. Sign and off.

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