Episode 93 - Beyond the Legend: The Unsolved Murder of Janett Christman

Wicked Within

It's a story many people know - In the dead of night, a teenage girl finds herself alone in a house, the children she's caring for sound asleep upstairs. She's settled in, watching television, when a phone call breaks the silence. A voice on the other end, cold and sinister, whispers, “Check the children.'" At first, she dismisses it as a prank, but the calls persist, each one more unnerving than the last. Fear begins to claw at her, gripping her heart with icy fingers. Desperate and terrified, she dials 911, and the police promise to trace the next call. When it comes, they call her back, urging her to get the kids and leave the house immediately. She runs from the home and when the police arrive they tell her that the calls were coming from inside the house and a deranged killer has murdered the children.

There are many different variations of this urban legend. In some versions everyone survives, in other versions no one survives, but the basic premise is always the same.

Although there are no known cases that specifically match the scenario from that urban legend, there is one particular murder that is thought to be the inspiration for the chilling tale, but you might want to curb your expectations because I can tell you that this episode is going to take us into a true horror story where we discuss two haunting, unsolved murders and the disturbing reality of racial injustice in the southern United States in the 1940s.

Sources:
The Babysitter Murder: The Story of Janett Christman and Marylou Jenkins from A True Crime Blog & Podcast
Who killed Janett Christman? from Columbia Daily Tribune
Janett Christman 1950 Missouri from Newspapers.com
The Execution of Floyd Cochran from Columbia Daily Tribune
Episode 146 - Janett Christman from The Trail Went Cold

See ya next Wednesday!
Intro/Outro Music: A Creepy Music from Music Unlimited
Instagram: @wickedwithinpodcast
Website: wickedwithinpodcast.com

Capítulos

1. Urban Legend and Unsolved Murders (00:00:18)

2. Murder and Investigation Roadblocks (00:08:20)

3. Murder Confession and Suspect's Trial (00:24:21)

4. Investigating Robert Mueller for Jeanette's Murder (00:36:43)

5. Unsolved Murders and the Killer's Mindset (00:43:39)

6. Mueller's Circumstantial Evidence in Murder (00:51:22)