Midwest Murder

We’ve all heard the phrase ‘that kind of thing doesn’t happen in our town’, but here on Midwest Murder, we will shatter that false reality. In fact, it happens more often than we know, and sometimes the details of the most horrific crimes that happen in our neighborhoods are lost in the back pages of newspapers, forgotten on our news channels, and eventually erased over time.

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Midwest Murder

E129: The Perfect American Boy

October 06, 2025 • Jonah Lantto & Dawn Palumbo with the Good Talk Network

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When young female college students start turning up brutally murdered around Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, Michigan, fear spreads faster than the investigation. Law enforcement can’t connect the killings. Angry parents turn on the university. A self-proclaimed psychic steps into the spotlight, claiming he can see what police can’t. And while headlines chase hysteria, the real killer moves quietly among them, hiding in plain sight.

This is the story of the Michigan Murders: how a summer of love turned into a season of terror, and how one woman’s death finally gave voice to all the others.

Recorded in Bismarck, ND at the historic Belle Mehus Auditorium.

Episode Title submitted by: Emma F.

Location: Michigan

Victims: Karen Sue Beineman. Mary Fleszar. Joan Schell. Maralynn Skelton. Dawn Basom. Alice Kalom. Roxie Phillips

Crime Adjacent
The never-ending true crime thriller told weekly. This season: The Rest Stop Killer.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

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People on this episode

Dawn Palumbo

Co-host

Jonah Lantto

Co-host