Transcript

The Cold Case Murders of Rose Burkert & Roger Atkinson + The Unkillable Michael Malloy | MFM 514

From My Favorite Murder · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 1 h 15 min · 13,746 words · 132 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "The Cold Case Murders of Rose Burkert & Roger Atkinson + The Unkillable Michael Malloy | MFM 514", an episode of My Favorite Murder published January 14, 2026 (1 h 15 min, about 13,746 words). It mentions 49 people, works and ideas, including Murder, Michael Malloy, Georgia Hardstark, Karen Kilgariff, Tony Marino.

What this episode is about

The main topic explores the unsolved murders of Rose Burkert and Roger Atkinson, alongside the bizarre survival story of Michael Malloy, who famously survived multiple murder attempts. The discussion touches on the chilling details of these cold cases and the peculiar circumstances surrounding Malloy's resilience against fatality.

Key takeaways

  • Ten years in podcasting feels like dog years: multiply the chaos by seven.
  • Ceramics and Mothman mugs proof: creativity thrives in chaos, especially when shaped by community.
  • Forget time; it's all about the personalized gifts—we're just here for the handmade art.
  • Vintage molds meet new clay: art reincarnation at its finest—a metaphor for podcast longevity.
  • Feeling hard? Process it visually: stories and ceramics speak louder than just words.

Who speaks in this episode?

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 10:00: Nine Year Anniversary, Laura Laura, Alix Noel, Georgia Hardstark
  2. – 20:00: Murder, Williamsburg, Iowa, Undercover of Night, Roger Atkinson
  3. – 30:00: Williamsburg, Iowa, Paul Holes, Saint Joseph, Missouri, Cahokia, Missouri
  4. – 40:00: Murder, William Kyle Junior, Galesburg, Illinois, Paul Holes
  5. – 50:00: Speakeasy, Michael Malloy, Tony Marino, Francis Pasqua
  6. – 1:00:00: Speakeasy, Michael Malloy, Nicholas Mallory, Murder
  7. – 1:10:00: Murder, Michael Malloy, Nicholas Mallory, Speakeasy
  8. – 1:14:36: Michael Malloy, Murder, Georgia Hardstark, Karen Kilgariff

Notable quotes from "The Cold Case Murders of Rose Burkert & Roger Atkinson + The Unkillable Michael Malloy | MFM 514"

  • To my favorite murder. That’s Georgia Hardstark.
    about Murder · at
  • Where a guy in his late 20s named Tony Marino owns a speakeasy because it's the depression era, a terrible time for almost every American.
    about Tony Marino · at
  • So Tony Marino's speakeasy is one of the worst of the worst.
    about Speakeasy · at
  • This is the story of the unkillable Mike Malloy.
    about Michael Malloy · at
  • This time, they're going to leave Michael Malloy at the bar, and they're going to get a friend, a friend of Francis's, who they falsely claim is a florist named Nicholas Mallory, to go.
    about Nicholas Mallory · at
  • It's Tony's 28 year old bartender, Joseph Murphy, who is willing to falsely state that he himself is Nicholas Mallory's next of kin when they have to identify the body.
    about Donald C. Murphy · at
  • Hey. When they go back to make sure he's dead, Francis Pasqua asks a specific Bronx doctor who he knows through his business as an undertaker, to show up at the apartment and…
    about Francis Pasqua · at
  • Stay sexy and don't get murdered.
    about Karen Kilgariff · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

  • Michael Malloy — Person · Core topic (victim in main story) · 19 mentions · first at
    Central figure in Karen's story about the 'unkillable' Mike Malloy and an attempted life-insurance murder plot in 1930s NYC.
  • Georgia Hardstark — Person · Host / co-host · 3 mentions · first at
    Co-host of the episode; participates in banter, network promos, and reacts to both cases and anniversary discussion.
    To my favorite murder. That’s Georgia Hardstark.
  • Karen Kilgariff — Person · Host / co-host · 2 mentions · first at
    Co-host; tells the cold case double homicide story (Rose Burkhardt & Roger Atkinson) and participates in episode framing and promos.
  • Tony Marino — Person · Core topic (perpetrator/plot leader) · 8 mentions · first at
    Speakeasy owner who leads the conspiracy to murder Michael Malloy for insurance money; also previously killed Mabel Carlson for a payout.
  • Nicholas Mallory — Person · Plot device (fabricated identity) · 9 mentions · first at
    A fake identity used to obtain life insurance policies; intended to be planted on Michael Malloy's body to claim payouts.
  • Donald C. Murphy — Person · Core topic (co-conspirator) · 6 mentions · first at
    Tony Marino's bartender who serves poisoned alcohol/food and agrees to impersonate 'Nicholas Mallory' next-of-kin for the insurance claim.
  • Francis Pasqua — Person · Core topic (co-conspirator) · 5 mentions · first at
    Undertaker and key member of the 'Murder Trust' who helps procure insurance policies and manages cover-up steps after Malloy's death.
  • Daniel Kreisberg — Person · Core topic (co-conspirator) · 2 mentions · first at
    Grocer and speakeasy regular involved in the conspiracy to kill Michael Malloy for insurance proceeds.
    Tony Marino, Frank Francis Pasqua, Daniel Kreisberg, bartender Joseph Murphy, cab driver Harry green, all charged with first degree murder, and their trials begin in October of 1933.
  • Paul Holes — Person · Referenced expert · 3 mentions · first at
    Referenced for his theory connecting toothpaste evidence to heroin addiction/sexual behavior and for recommending exhumation for DNA testing.
    Paul Holes has opinions about it, too, so you know it's important.
  • Harry Greene — Person · Core topic (co-conspirator) · 3 mentions · first at
    Cab driver recruited to run over Michael Malloy in a staged hit-and-run attempt; later avoids death penalty.
    So they pull in yet another coconspirator, a 24 year old cab driver named Harry green, who agrees to do the job for $150, which is worth how much in today's money.
  • Mabel Carlson — Person · Referenced victim (prior case) · 2 mentions · first at
    Woman previously killed by Tony Marino in an earlier insurance scheme; her case is later exhumed and compared to Malloy's.
    The year before, Tony started an affair with a woman named Mabel Carlson, who herself was down on her luck.
  • Tony Bastoni — Person · Referenced co-conspirator / later shooting victim · 2 mentions · first at
    Member of the 'Murder Trust' who is shot by Joseph McGlone during internal conflict after the insurance payout dispute.
    Another name tough Tony Bastoni, because he's super nice to everybody.
  • Laura Laura — Person · Fan/creator referenced (gift giver) · 2 mentions · first at
    Stained glass artist who sent hot-dog themed and pet-themed stained glass pieces; lives in Denver/Colorado.
    And this is from a Laura at down the line design and it says, hello, everyone.
  • Tinner — Person · Referenced co-conspirator · 1 mention · first at
    Nickname of Joseph McGlone, a recruited conspirator in the 'Murder Trust', noted for having an artificial ear.
    They have petty criminal backgrounds, and it includes a guy named Johnny McNally and another one named Joseph McGlone, who goes by the nickname Tinner because he has an artificial ear.
  • Alix Noel — Person · Listener (gift sender) · 2 mentions · first at
    Co-sender of a 9-year anniversary gift email from Boise, Idaho; thanks the hosts and signs SDM.
    This is from Noel and Lisa, and it says, here's to nine incredible years from two of your longtime listeners in Boise, Idaho.
  • Keiko Inoue — Person · Fan/creator referenced (gift giver) · 1 mention · first at
    Ceramics artist who sent stacking Mothman mugs; credited with Instagram handle 'Keiko Pots'.
    So this is sent in by Keiko Inoue from Keiko Pots on Instagram.
  • Johnny McNally — Person · Referenced co-conspirator · 1 mention · first at
    Named as one of the additional shady neighborhood types pulled into the Malloy murder conspiracy.
    They have petty criminal backgrounds, and it includes a guy named Johnny McNally and another one named Joseph McGlone, who goes by the nickname Tinner because he has an artificial ear.
  • Rose Burkhardt — Person · 3 mentions · first at
    So this is a story of the cold case murders of Rose Burkhardt and Roger Atkinson.
  • Roger Atkinson — Person · 3 mentions · first at
    So this is a story of the cold case murders of Rose Burkhardt and Roger Atkinson.
  • William Kyle Junior — Person · 3 mentions · first at
    So on June 25th, 1980, in Galesburg, Illinois, which is about 130 miles away from where we were like a two hour drive, a man named William Kyle Junior had been killed in a hotel room, and his wounds had been similar.
  • Harry Green — Person · 2 mentions · first at
    So they pull in yet another coconspirator, a 24 year old cab driver named Harry green, who agrees to do the job for $150, which is worth how much in today's money.
  • Jordan from Jay Mack ceramics — Person · 1 mention · first at
    It's Jordan from Jay Mack ceramics, Jay Massey ceramics, who found a, mold from the 1970s of this cat from someone's garage.
  • Marcella Atkinson — Person · 1 mention · first at
    They're not a married couple, but Roger is actually married to someone else, a woman named Marcella Atkinson, who goes by Marcy.
  • Raimundo Esparza — Person · 1 mention · first at
    Because ultimately, the murderer of William Kyle Junior is circumstantially linked to a man named Raimundo Esparza, who can be placed in the area at the time near the hotel.
  • Jack McDonald — Person · 1 mention · first at
    That man was named Jack McDonald, and he was 23 years old.
  • Simon Read — Person · 1 mention · first at
    The sources Marianne used for this story are the book on the House by Simon Read, a 2020 episode of criminal, and a 2012 Smithsonian Magazine article by Abbott Keller.

Books & papers

  • The House — Book · Source material (referenced) · 3 mentions · first at
    Cited as a key source for the Michael Malloy story; attributed in-episode to author Simon Read/Reid.
    He doesn't seem to have friends in this book on the house, author Simon Reid quotes a district attorney from back then who says, quote, I cannot prove much to you about Michael Malloy, who he was or where he came from.
  • Criminal — Book · 2 mentions · first at
    The sources Marianne used for this story are the book on the House by Simon Read, a 2020 episode of criminal, and a 2012 Smithsonian Magazine article by Abbott Keller.
  • Smithsonian Magazine — Book · 1 mention · first at
    The sources Marianne used for this story are the book on the House by Simon Read, a 2020 episode of criminal, and a 2012 Smithsonian Magazine article by Abbott Keller.

Products & tech

  • Methanol — Product · Murder method (attempted) · 2 mentions · first at
    Used as 'wood alcohol' in attempts to poison Malloy; also discussed as a Prohibition-era danger and compared to other cases.
    Obviously Francis, Daniel, Tony and Joseph need a new plan, and they decide they're just going to swap out Michael's drinks with methanol, wood alcohol.
  • Broken Glass — Product · Weaponized object (attempted murder) · 2 mentions · first at
    Used with carpet tacks in a sandwich to attempt to kill Malloy.
    A sardine sandwich packed with carpet tacks and broken glass.
  • Carpet Tacks — Product · Weaponized object (attempted murder) · 1 mention · first at
    Used in a sardine sandwich intended to kill Malloy by internal injury.
    A sardine sandwich packed with carpet tacks and broken glass.
  • Reynolds Wrap — Product · Anniversary gag / product mention · 1 mention · first at
    Mentioned jokingly as the 'name brand' tin foil for the 10-year anniversary theme.
    Please send us as much Reynolds wrap as you can.

Concepts & topics

  • Murder — Concept · Core topic · 26 mentions · first at
    The episode centers on two homicide narratives: an unsolved double murder (1980) and a plotted murder-for-insurance scheme (1932–33).
  • Speakeasy — Concept · Core setting concept · 16 mentions · first at
    Tony Marino's speakeasy is the hub where the murder conspiracy forms and where Malloy is repeatedly poisoned/targeted.
  • Life Insurance Fraud — Concept · Core topic (second story motive) · 3 mentions · first at
    Primary motive for the Malloy conspiracy: taking out policies under a false identity and killing a victim to collect payouts.
    They get talking about their money troubles and one of them pitches a diabolical idea we should kill Michael Malloy and split the payout on his life insurance.
  • Prohibition — Concept · Historical context · 2 mentions · first at
    Explains why speakeasies exist and frames the criminal ecosystem around Tony Marino's bar in early 1930s NYC.
    But it's also the prohibition era.

Places & events

  • Williamsburg, Iowa — Place · Primary crime scene location (cold case) · 3 mentions · first at
    Location of the Amana Holiday Inn where Rose Burkhardt and Roger Atkinson are found murdered in room 260.
    That's neither here nor there because we are outside room 260 at the Amana Holiday Inn.
  • Ten Year Anniversary — Event · Episode framing / milestone · 3 mentions · first at
    The hosts discuss the upcoming 10-year anniversary episode and related fan traditions (e.g., tin foil theme).
    Is our ten year anniversary episode.
  • Saint Joseph, Missouri — Place · Primary setting (cold case victims' home) · 1 mention · first at
    Home community of Roger Atkinson, his wife Marcy, and Rose Burkhardt; anchor point for the 1980 double homicide narrative.
    That actual couple, Marcy and Roger, live in Saint Joseph, Missouri.
  • Nine Year Anniversary — Event · Episode framing (gift segment) · 3 mentions · first at
    Motivates the opening segment where hosts discuss handmade gifts (mostly ceramics) received for the 9-year anniversary.
    So crazy that we haven't even finished talking about the gifts we got from the nine year anniversary, which was a year. Ago.
  • Galesburg, Illinois — Place · Referenced comparison location · 2 mentions · first at
    Location of William Kyle Jr.'s 1980 hotel-room murder, linked by similarities (hatchet wounds, toothpaste) to the Iowa case.
    And in addition to this, a tube of toothpaste had been squeezed out at the foot of the bed.
  • Cahokia, Missouri — Place · Setting (cold case travel point) · 1 mention · first at
    Where Rose met Roger before they traveled to Iowa; part of the timeline leading to the murders.
    So from what people can piece together, On Wednesday, two days before she was killed, Rose had left her daughter in the care of a friend and had traveled from Saint Joseph to Cahokia, Missouri, where she had met Roger.
  • Amana Colonies — Place · Geographic context · 1 mention · first at
    Referenced as a nearby landmark to Williamsburg, Iowa, where the murders occur.
    So it's Saturday, September 13th, 1980, and we're in Williamsburg, Iowa, right outside a place called the Amana Colonies.
  • Meridian, Mississippi — Place · Referenced comparison location · 1 mention · first at
    Location of a 1970 motel-room murder (Jack McDonald) mentioned as a possible serial-killer link by Paul Holes.
    He had been bludgeoned to death in a motel room in Meridian, Mississippi, which is ten hours or almost 11 hours away, so who knows?
  • Boise, Idaho — Place · Listener location · 1 mention · first at
    Identifies where gift senders Noel and Lisa are from.
    This is from Noel and Lisa, and it says, here's to nine incredible years from two of your longtime listeners in Boise, Idaho.

Media & podcasts

  • Undercover of Night — Media · Recommended podcast · 2 mentions · first at
    Georgia recommends it as a compelling investigative series about a mysterious woman's death in a small Texas town.
    Under cover of night. Under cover of night.
  • Criminal — Media · Source material (referenced) · 2 mentions · first at
    Cited as a source for the Michael Malloy story (a 2020 episode).
    The sources Marianne used for this story are the book on the House by Simon Read, a 2020 episode of criminal, and a 2012 Smithsonian Magazine article by Abbott Keller.
  • Smithsonian Magazine — Media · Source material (referenced) · 1 mention · first at
    Cited as a source for the Michael Malloy story via a 2012 article by Abbott Keller.
    The sources Marianne used for this story are the book on the House by Simon Read, a 2020 episode of criminal, and a 2012 Smithsonian Magazine article by Abbott Keller.

Full transcript with timestamps

Lives where you love me. You. Hello and welcome. To my favorite murder. That’s Georgia Hardstark. That's Karen Kilgariff. And this is. 2026. I mean, what I was going to say, this is our ceramics display. Oh, we're going to. All right. We're just going, right? Yeah. It just feels weird to be back, but let's. And so let's do something weird. We have to point out the elephant in the room because that's anyone. That's all anyone's looking at. Anyway, if they're looking though, some people might just be listening. Listen, listeners, you need to start looking.

We told you that years ago. Look and listen. That's what you've been saying. It's we built it into the beginning of the podcast before we even knew we were doing video. Basically, next week I was going to say tomorrow, but it's next week. What is time? Is our ten year anniversary episode. Ten years, which. Is fucking. Crazy. Wild as hell. So crazy that we haven't even finished talking about the gifts we got from the nine year anniversary, which was a year. Ago. A year ago, and we got so many beautiful, lovely handmade ceramic gifts. Right?

We thought it would be like a couple people who could throw some clay. Yeah, would be like, sure, it was an we were inundated with beautiful art. And it's funny because. So nine year anniversary is ceramics. Obviously ten years like tinfoil. What is it? Is ten. It's so boring. That's like we have to, like, finish this up and not ask for tinfoil. Please send us as much Reynolds wrap as you can. Reynolds wrap if you're out there. If you're looking and listening. Well, we're using the name brand. Yeah, okay. That's right.

Okay. That's because my don't wrap the time of our lives. So let's let's get these out of the way really quickly, and then we're going to. And then it's ten years, and then nine years is over. And then let's stop talking about it and just. Wrap it up. This is a story I know it's wrap. This is a. Ceramic, Siamese like vintage cat with an incredible necklace on it, but I'm obviously obsessed with. When I first saw that, I was like, they made the whole thing. And it's like, no, Karen, they just made the necklace. Like it's a ceramics thing.

No, obvious. Here's what they did. Oh, you got the full story. It's Jordan from Jay Mack ceramics, Jay Massey ceramics, who found a, mold from the 1970s of this cat from someone's garage. They found it. They found hundreds of molds. They do ceramic. So it's new vintage. So the mold is vintage, the clay is new, the cat is new. And I didn't know you could do that. I mean, make your own. That's when you really care about ceramics, right? And Jordan also looked at the markings to make sure that they were like, correct to Elvis.

So this is like the only one that I have that's cross-eyed. Do you want to process these feelings? Is that's like a. Tribute I know that's beautiful. I don't know if I can process. Yeah, you shouldn't do it on the show. Feelings are hard for me. But it'll take a while. But feelings are great content. Yeah. This is. Hey, listeners. This is where I got to look, because you should see this. This cat is so beautifully made. Oh, my gosh, it's so cool looking. It's perfect. Can we put it right? Let's put it on. Yeah. What a lovely gift.

And then what if I break it? What if I break it? Jordan also made you dog bowls from a 1980s. Perfect. Oh, my God, those dog bowls are gorgeous. So that's really, really cool. So Jordan from James Ceramic has been probably waiting a year and been like, look, I fucking did what you guys asked. I not only did I do what you asked. Above and beyond. Into people's garages and got these molds that they don't use anymore, that really is art. That's incredible. Okay, what do you what do you have to share with the class? Well, these are incredible.

These are stacking Mothman mugs. Yeah. So this is sent in by Keiko Inoue from Keiko Pots on Instagram. All that k e I k o p o t s. Got it. I guess we should really very heavily describe this to the listener, right? So these are beautiful beige ceramic stacking hippie coffee mugs with no handles. So it's like you're just supposed supposed to take your dandelion tea and stand at the window. Yeah. Put your both hands around the mug like you just went through something. Yeah, but the funny thing is, they. Stack and make a whole Mothman.

But the top part is the face. So who do you give the crotch of the Mothman to? To someone you hate or someone you love? I think it depends on what you're into. Okay? Because take it apart. It's a crotch. That one has a crotch. Up. And then the top just looks like a sneaky little mock peeking over. Like a fun, sneaky. Cute Mothman with two two middle fingers up and then crotch man. Well. And more so this this mug on the back very lightly has etched into it by being on the bottom it says bitches! Oh perfect. So you know, there is a real high low above below situation happening with the stacking.

That's what it's all about. Truly. Who are. You? Are you up here? You down here? Drink out of that mug that day. This is amazing I real I really love this one. I was excited when I saw that. I think that'll go up for sure. But I really was confused when I saw this next one, which I thought someone just sent us in a butterfly where it's like you didn't. You got the assignment wrong. It looks like a pinned moth. Beautiful. Pinned like real dead moth or butterfly in the middle of a frame. Yeah it's. Fucking made of ceramic. Ceramics.

So it's like, I honestly thought it was like you guys didn't get it. Here's the. I'll just read this email fast. This is from Noel and Lisa, and it says, here's to nine incredible years from two of your longtime listeners in Boise, Idaho. Like these ceramic butterflies made by Lisa who owns the Potter Center. You've embraced metamorphosis in all its beautiful, awful, messy glory in the public eye, no less. And then in parentheses, all caps. It says Queens, and then it says, thank you for giving us community and the chaos.

Permission to laugh despite the darkness, a nudge to prioritize mental health, and for telling such important stories with empathy and nuance. You've inspired both of us in countless ways. Here's to transformation, community, and art. I love that. SDM, Noel and Lisa and then just the most intricate, beautiful, small, symbolic butterfly. I thought it would be a moth because you like moths. Like that's all it meant. But that's actually, like. Really beautiful. It's really poetic. And thank you know, on Lisa, that's so thoughtful.

We're looking forward to what you make out of tin foil. Yeah. And good luck. Beating the moth. Okay. So this last one you don't have a paper on because I wanted to surprise you. Okay okay. This one is so you can see it's like an SSD. Stained glass, hot dog mustard thing. A hot. Dog stained glass window. Piece. Yes. And this is from a Laura at down the line design and it says, hello, everyone. I am a stained glass artist out of Colorado. I've been wanting to do these pieces for a long time now and finally made time for it.

I hope they arrive safely and fill your heart with joy. So it's not ceramics, but I'm gonna let it happen anyway. Hell yeah. Because I want to show you what else they made this cool one. But Laura also made. Okay, close your eyes. Okay. Look what they made. Okay, look. Oh my God. Dead pets, dead pets. Stained glass. Stained glass. Dead pet. And that looks they have the look of our pets. Exactly. Wait. But then look at this. I know that's the cream. You turn it around. I just have dead eyes. I know that's how it is.

Oh my God. Yeah. So, Elvis and, Georgia's stained glass pieces, and they're fucking beautiful. So beautiful. So I guess that's what a Laura does. She says I had a corndog piece go viral selling many of them. I don't have any interesting hometowns, but I live in Denver, so insert any story from there. So there's a lot. And oh, I see the eyes are hand-painted. That's why they're they're all all white and then painted the eye color. So gorgeous. I mean, people, we have so many of these items. We should just. Go through them, you know, just keep on going through them.

There's so many amazing things. Totally. So thank you guys for the last year for our nine anniversary, nine year anniversary. We've a year to say thank. You, right? Yes, I think so. So thank you for those. We treasure all of them. The ones we haven't talked about. We've seen it. We fucking love them all. Incredible. I mean these are just this is just a drop in the ocean. Yeah. Of the great stuff. We've gotten. Home. All right. What a way to come back from a nice long break. Been a long break. It's so weird to be back.

How how was your break? How was your. It was lovely. I, as I usually do on break, when I go home, stay with my dad. He watches football with the football piped directly into his hearing aids, and I sit next to him looking at TikTok. And then when there's a good play, he he stops, rewinds it and says, look at this run. And then I had to talk to him about football. Like, I understand what we're talking about. And like, I'm super into it. And every time by the end of the trip, I am. And yeah, so you go stop. You need to see this TikTok.

However I do, I actually I just text him the TikTok. Oh, and you can watch it now. Yeah. So if I start laughing really hard, he sometimes it'll pull him out. So it'll be like. What's going on? And then I'll be I was there, I go check it out. So it's a very weird we've gotten our modern language down. Love it a little bit. That's how that's how it is now. It's really relaxing. Tumors and Gen X like this is how we connect with our parents. TikTok can build a bridge. TikTok and. Football. Yeah, we can do this. It's a language all to itself. How was. Your trip?

I mean, how was your break? It was good. We plan on. Going so many places and then just ended up staying home and it was fucking amazing. I have, I have a New Year's resolution, which I don't normally have. Let's hear it. Okay. This is my plan. And I started it last and I started last month and I'm fucking. This is it. I'm making decisions now and doing the hard things now. My point is to help future Georgia. Great. So I'm saying no to things now, even though it's hard in the moment because me in two years isn't going to go, why didn't I fucking do it?

Then I said no, then instead I'm going to go back and say thank you to myself now for fucking dealing with it in the moment, even though it was uncomfortable and hard. Amazing. So future. Fucking me, it's going to life is going to be easier for. Her and a little harder for me, but it's worth it. A little harder in the beginning. Yeah, but then easier the second you start. Totally. Right? Yeah. I did not the same, resolution, but, started my resolution because I was like, I just have to do more stuff so that my life isn't just work.

And there's just like the expansion of just kind of lots of experiences. So I made my sister because everybody went out of town. So our usual hang people, yeah, were all gone, and it was just me and Laura and Nora and so on. New Year's of course, Nora had a party. And so I was like, you and I are going to do something. And she's like, I don't want to do anything. And I'm like, I know, but we're going to do it anyway, right? So there was, basically a the Tom petty cover band playing at the local theater. And so we're like, let's go see it.

Yeah. So we buy tickets and we go to the the pub next door and eat dinner and we're hanging out. Amazing. The show starts at nine. It's 908. The band starts and and I go, oh my God, there's an opening band. And my sister goes, no, that's them. And I go, this is a New Year's Eve show. And I go, there's no way that's the actual band. And she goes, it is! And she's like, I've gone to shows there before. It's the real band. I'm like, but they are. They have to fill time until midnight and she's like, it's the band. And.

But we were like fighting about it because I was like, there's just no way that's how it would go. And we basically sat there like talking and laughing or whatever. And it was over at ten and we never went. Yeah, I'd say, I don't want to do all right, because. I was like, wait, do we have to get up and run in there now? Because they started literally on time? Yeah. Like, who does that? People who want to be home by midnight and in bed by midnight. I yeah, I was I really had my weird LA goggles on where I was like, dude, this thing starts at 1150.

And she's like, I'm telling. You, what do you. Want to be listening to music all the way through midnight? Everyone wants to go home. Yeah, yeah. You have a podcast you want? I do. Okay, so I had to do the drive again. Yeah, because the dogs came. Okay. And I listen to Beth's dead, and. Man, oh, man, was that an experience, right? What a cool thing to listen to those guys talk through the other side of an experience. Yeah, it's like everybody's heard about, like, that kind of stuff. And then the after effect. But it's like you always get it from the one perspective, and it's like the people who went through it and are like, okay, this is what we went through and we're going to tell you all about it.

Yeah, it was just so cool and so personal. Yeah. Isn't Elizabeth Lane wonderful just like it was? She and Monica are just such lovely people. Also, they were so smart. It's like they weren't out to get anybody. They wanted answers. So it wasn't about it wasn't witchhunt D and they handled everything really well. Totally. So this was this is an interesting parallel because this is a podcast called Undercover of Night. And I literally just found it on like the iTunes homepage. And I was like, oh, I forgot to pick something.

I'll just pick this. And it's about a woman who is found dead in a small town in Texas. And there's all these strange circumstances around her life and around her home. She lives in a tiny Texas town, but she has a British accent. People know her, but not well. They find stuff in her house that people suddenly start drawing conclusions. And essentially, I think one of the like log lines that they say is if people found you dead and they just saw what was around you, what would they think about you. Or what. Could they could they, like, come up with.

About you? And so it's these podcasters who are like journalists and researchers who are just trying to get answers and like, compare because they're. Just just like a mystery of who this person is. And they and it's like locals who had to deal with it, then told stories based on things that were found in the house. And do they figure it out? Yes. Okay. And it's so compelling. It's so well done. And it's the same thing where it's like that idea of like having an idea and running with it. Yeah. And then here comes the researcher fact, journalist person or whatever to be like, well, that actually doesn't track with what we knew from oh.

I love this. Okay. What's it called again? Under cover of night. Under cover of night. And it's just basically the how mysterious a woman alone who dies. Yeah. And was. Murdered. Well, they're not sure. They're not sure it's suspicious circumstances. Okay. To the people who find her. Okay. And so that's the whole thing, okay? And it's really good. Okay? And really well. Done. I mean. I love it. Yeah. All right. Should we do the first 2026 highlights of the exactly right network? I think we should. Hey, we have a podcast network.

It's called Exactly Right Media. Here are some highlights. Well we have a brand new podcast, a legal podcast called Brief Recess. And host Michael Melissa. This week they break down the Getty Art Museum curators alleged conspiracy to receive stolen goods, ongoing threats to trans rights through the Charles V Salazar case that's going on right now, and an unfortunate update involving J.K. Rowling that's probably connected to that. Yeah. And then on. Do you need a ride? Hey, Chris and Karen, welcome back. Comedian and musician Henry Phillips, one of the funniest people.

Just one of the greatest. They cover awkward celebrity encounters, alien invasions and more. His awkward celebrity encounter is so. Hilarious, I'm sure because he's so. Awkward to begin with. And so funny. Also, if you don't know Henry Phillips, he had a viral video called You and Your Fucking Mug of Coffee. That was one of my favorite things, because it was like he would walk around with a giant mug of coffee and like, the first one to see. Is that. He's at a voting booth and he's just spilling coffee everywhere.

And I was absolutely that person with the mug of coffee I couldn't control. Oh my God, he's he's a great he's so good. Also, if you're craving more of our content in the new year, then you need to go over to the fan cult because they've got you covered. You get all the episodes of this show ad free merch, store discounts, exclusive video content, and much, much more. So go to Fan cult.supercars.com to join the fan call. That's right, and please do not forget to follow my favorite murder on Instagram and TikTok so you never miss all the clips, polls, and important announcements we share.

Like breaking pet news. Frank has arthritis. I mean, does everybody know that we I think they need to. It's 2026. It's time to know important details. You can find all of our socials on link tr dot slash my favorite murder. Just you know, look at my favorite murder on places. And then follow us please. All right. It's you go first. All right. I'm going to start 2026 by irritating the shit out of you with a cold case. Perfect. You know, I love a cold case. I feel like this one can be solved. Paul Holes has opinions about it, too, so you know it's important.

Did you call him on the phone? No, he has done it. He's talked about it in the past. I don't know if I agree with him. I will just say that right now. I don't want to start a fight with Paul. Yes, beef with Paul. Holes in 2026. Why not? Don't think. I don't think he's right. But I mean, what does he know? He's just a. A 35 year. Investigator right. Look at me out of a ten year fucking podcaster bitch. No, I didn't mean I don't mean bitch as in he's. I mean. Like, you're playing a. Character. Yeah, like as a thug. That's right.

Figure of speech. Okay, so this is a cold case double homicide that rocked two Missouri families in 1980. It's one of those cases that are always on the lists of, like, unsolved cases that can be solved or that have weird clues in them. So this is a story of the cold case murders of Rose Burkhardt and Roger Atkinson. And the main sources used for the story is a book by Atkinson's widow, whose name is Marcella Lim. Hatcher Atkinson called axed. And the rest of the sources can be found in the show notes. So it's Saturday, September 13th, 1980, and we're in Williamsburg, Iowa, right outside a place called the Amana Colonies.

Never heard of it. Me neither. The Amana Colonies are seven villages that were originally founded by German immigrants in the 1950s, specifically as a religious group that had broken with the Lutheran church. But 1950s. Yeah, what I say no, 1850s. It was like, were they all like astronauts. And stuff like so recently? Why would that's a reason for a colony? Yeah, no, it is. That's neither here nor there because we are outside room 260 at the Amana Holiday Inn. And the housekeeper isn't getting a response as she knocks at the room's door.

The couple in the room should have been checked out at this point, but no one has seen them. The housekeeper can hear the TV on in the room, but after a minute goes by with no one answering, she goes inside when she enters the room. First, she's in this little hallway where you can see into like the end of the room. Not the bed. You can also see the entrance to the bathroom on one side, and so she sees several belongings strewn all over the floor in front of the bed. And once she rounds that little corner and it's at this total 80s, 70s, 80s hotel room and can see the bed, she sees two lifeless bodies, a man and a woman and lots of blood. She.

Calls her boss and the police. So the couple had registered at the front desk as Mr. and Mrs. Roger Burkhardt. But this is kind of just half true. When the police arrive, it's determined that the people are Rose Burkhardt, who is 22, and Roger Atkinson, who is 32. They're not a married couple, but Roger is actually married to someone else, a woman named Marcella Atkinson, who goes by Marcy. That actual couple, Marcy and Roger, live in Saint Joseph, Missouri. So that's a 200 to 220 miles away, like a four hour drive, let's say.

And the two of them have been together since Marcy was 15 years old. And since Roger was 18, so high school sweethearts, they've been married a very long time. They don't have any kids, which Marcy will later talk about being due to her having endometriosis, and it's a very painful subject for them. Roger works as a telephone installer, but he's also a beloved Sunday school teacher in the church. And then Rose, the 22 year old who's found in the bed. There's also from Saint Joseph, but she and Roger's wife, Marcy have never met, so Marcy has no idea who this woman is.

Rose has a two year old daughter named Rachel, whose dad isn't in the picture. And she works as a nursing aide at a nursing home. But she's also about to go back to school full time to become a nurse. So it looks, of course, as if Roger and Rose had been having an affair at the time the murders first happened. Marcy is deeply in grief and asks that people not pass judgment on her husband and Rose, saying they could have been in a motel together for any number of reasons. But as time passes, it does seem to be clear, even to her, that they were having an affair so much later, when Marcy writes a book about the case, she talks about how she and Roger had been struggling in their marriage and how he had had several affairs.

But as of the moment that their bodies are found and the case is developing, the families of both victims remain more focused on their own grief and wanting the case solved than they do on this affair. I mean, what an awful feeling to be like your husband's dead and with another woman in a hotel room 200 miles away. It's just. It's your whole life falls apart in probably every way it could. Everything you believed in is not true and gone. Yeah. Yeah, totally. So from what people can piece together, On Wednesday, two days before she was killed, Rose had left her daughter in the care of a friend and had traveled from Saint Joseph to Cahokia, Missouri, where she had met Roger.

They checked into a motel as a married couple. Roger had told his wife, Marcy, that he'd be on a two week work assignment in Cahokia without any time off, and he was going to be gone. It seems that Rose hadn't planned on being with him that entire two weeks. She'd only arranged for her daughter to be cared for through the weekend. So two days later, on Friday, the couple then drives about an hour and a half north to Williamsburg, Iowa, and they check in to this Holiday Inn. The hotel had actually been booked solid because of because of morticians convention in town.

Which is so. Creepy. Yeah. Well they, they have to meet to do. Yeah. Somewhere. But there had been one cancellation in the hotel and Rose and Roger are assigned to that. They get the room, it's room 260. So it's just weird because they didn't. It doesn't seem like anyone knew they were going to be there because they didn't even plan the trip. Really? Right. Like it's hours away from where they had first met, hours away from their hometown. They hadn't made a reservation. They weren't even supposed to be able to get a room.

Someone canceled the get the room. Does that mean someone was following you there? Some was following them, or it's just like a chance encounter? Yeah, it's. Just someone just found victims there. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, and if they hadn't gone there, like, would the person in room 260 would have been killed anyways, or would they have been killed? You know, it's just kind of that thing. Seems like they'd been followed, right? I mean, that was the first thing that popped into my head. Also, do you think that room 260 was on the second floor?

Yes. So. And it was also inside the hotel, like you couldn't get it wasn't like it faced a street and the doors faced the street. It was like you had to go into the hotel. Yeah. To, to get to the door. Oh, right. Yeah. So the hotel staff say that the couple ordered room service. They moved their car at one point, and some calls were placed to and from the room. That's the information they have. And there was a call from Rose to the babysitter when she first arrived at 740. And then the babysitter called back, and then a third call was placed to the room.

But we don't really know any details about where this call came from. So we're back to the morning of the 13th after the police are summoned to the hotel. And this is what they find. There had been no forced entry into the hotel room, but, you know, someone could have had a key. Right? And the room could only be accessed from inside the hotel. As I said, the key things were to because it was an actual key. So anyone who had stayed there before could just make a copy of it, right? It wasn't like like it is now where you swipe something to get in and they change it every time.

But then they would that would be premeditated in a way, would be like, so they just wanted to do that in that room. Yeah. You know, Or that they knew who this person was and they let them in or they knocked and they let them in. Who knows? Rose and Roger are found on the bed with the covers pulled up all the way on Rose's side. And halfway up on Roger's side. So the top half of his body is uncovered. The covers are saturated with blood. Rose is wearing all her clothes, and Roger is only in his boxer shorts, and both are laying face down.

It sounds similar to like a, Golden State killer attack when he would attack couples. Yeah, it's just sounds like that to me. Both have been hit multiple times in the back of the head by something like an ax or a hatchet. Oh, investigators believe the weapon has a three inch blade. They don't find the weapon. Rogers missing several fingers, likely defensive wounds. I know, though, most of the wounds are at the back of the head. Both Rose and Roger have multiple other wounds on the top halves of their bodies. There's blood sprayed on the headboard and on the floor next to the bed.

It's just a really awful scene. Rose and Roger's belongings are scattered all over the floor. It's a big mess. Roger's wallet has been gone through, and some money, maybe around $200, is missing. A partial fingerprint is recovered from the couple's belongings. And so here's the weird couple of weird pieces of evidence. So a chair had been pulled up to the bed as if someone were sitting there talking to them while they were in bed, or just watching them after they killed them. They pulled up a chair and sat down, either before or after and underneath this chair, aside from the person having gone through Roger's wallet and there's cards everywhere, the person took a bar of soap and had been like cutting at it.

What's it called when you. Whittling and carving? Yeah, carving and whittling a bar of soap. So just sitting there doing that, which is so menacing. And this was 1980. Yeah. Sorry, but there was a commercial for Irish Spring back then where they cut soap in the commercial. Do you remember that? Do even though I shouldn't, because I was a baby. I was probably ran for a long time, but there it was. That the thing that's really, really weird and yeah, horrifying. What a weird. Like, what kind of person has that as a, like, hobby whittling thing?

Like whittling soap? Well, what. What? I don't think whittling soap. Is a hug. You think so? Like, do they make. I think they made something out of it. Or is it just like you do it to do it to me? It seems like a knife play where it's like it's threatening, intimidating. It's like. And you like having a knife. So there are different things you can do with it. I probably don't have like a block of wood there. Right. So it seems like it's something you would do while they were alive to intimidate them. I mean, maybe or like, who knows? Okay.

So then the person, most likely the perpetrator, uses this piece of soap that he whittled to write a message on the back of the bathroom door, so it's only visible when light hits the door. Unfortunately, the person wiped almost the whole message off, but you can see one word left behind. It just says this letter. I mean, that's like a horror movie. I like it. That reminds me of that. It's in seven, right? Yeah. It's like you flip the picture over and there's a thing written there. Yes, but you can only see in black like this.

Wow. Yeah. So that's fucking menacing and creepy. There's a lot more evidence in the bathroom as well. The sink and one of the white bathroom towels are both visibly stained with blood, and a tube of toothpaste has been squirted into the bathtub and into the sink. So someone the person then picked up the toothpaste, squirted it, made a mess all over the bathroom. This is part of what Paul Holes theory is about, and I'll get to that in a minute. Okay, so like, what is toothpaste? What does that mean to you that they did that?

They just wanted to make a mess? I mean, if they were kind of out, out of their minds and doing stuff in, in there, right. If they're like looking for stuff or grading. Shit on the wall and. Making a mess, it's just hard to make them kind of. Mayhem. But then also or if they're full psychopath, they just everything's very calm and they're who, you know. Yeah. Or purposely misleading the police to be like this means nothing, but they're going to think it's a clue. Yeah. But that feels less likely the further back we go in time, because I feel like people do stuff like that because they've been informed over the years. Yeah.

By TV shows. Yeah. And entertainment. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So here are some theories. Let's get to those. It sounds like the affair between Roger and Rose was possibly developing into more than just a fling. People around their hometown of Saint Joseph knew about the affair. Marcy, the wife, would later learn from her pastor, no less, that Roger had become really attached to Rose's two year old daughter. So people, of course, looked at Marcy pretty quickly at the wife. As you do. Why did the pastor know? Did he let go?

Probably talk to his pastor about. Yeah, probably. It sounds like it. Right. So Marcy filed a wrongful death suit against the Holiday Inn, saying that the hotel didn't provide adequate security and that this contributed to Roger's death. That lawsuit is ultimately settled out of court, and both parties agree to keep some of that settlement private. I wonder if there's also details about the evidence in the case that they didn't want getting out there. So she gets the settlement from that, and then she also is able to secure a double indemnity life insurance payout from various insurance companies that they had life insurance with, totaling $140,000 in 1980.

And today's money. Three 5550 wow. Yeah, half $1 million. That's a lot of money. Yeah. However like that could just. But could just be that what couples do sometimes, I don't know. Yeah. It doesn't necessarily mean anything. Yeah. Like people die and that happens all the time. So it doesn't really mean anything. And she does have an alibi. She'd been babysitting for a couple that was out of town when this happened. And again, this is hours away from their hometown, so she couldn't have gone up and back, but maybe she hired someone to.

Maybe if she was right, you know, and then I think they kind of stopped paying attention to her as a suspect because she has an alibi. It doesn't seem like they could have any evidence. But also, there are other theories that are compelling as well. So another possibility is that the killer could have been an ex-boyfriend of Rose's, who had apparently been stalking her in the weeks leading up to the murder on September 9th, right before she left to go on this trip with Roger, Rose had told a friend two things that if anything ever happened to her, she wanted one of her brothers to raise her daughter.

And then if anything happened to her, it would have been her ex who did it. So that's not something you say lightly. And then days later, you're murdered, right? And possibly followed to that location? Yes. Right. Absolutely not. And that seems like the most plausible explanation. Right. But then investigators see some chilling similarities between this case and a murder that happened just three months earlier. And it seems like maybe they stopped pursuing that lead because of this really weird, confusing similarity of this murder.

So on June 25th, 1980, in Galesburg, Illinois, which is about 130 miles away from where we were like a two hour drive, a man named William Kyle Junior had been killed in a hotel room, and his wounds had been similar. Police believe that an ax or hatchet had been the murder weapon in that case as well. And in addition to this, a tube of toothpaste had been squeezed out at the foot of the bed. That's weird. That's fucking weird. That's really. Specific. Yeah, we're not sure. Just a year and across the country difference, right?

Like proximity and time close. Yeah. So the question is, is squirting a tube of toothpaste meaningful in some way that we don't understand? And that's where potholes comes in. Oh. Because ultimately, the murderer of William Kyle Junior is circumstantially linked to a man named Raimundo Esparza, who can be placed in the area at the time near the hotel. Esparza was a vagrant and was addicted to heroin. And that's a known fact. Although, you know, that's just a circumstantial tie in to this murder. The detail is important of the heroin addiction because of the stolen money, but also because of the toothpaste which was present at both crimes.

So in 2019, on the oxygen show, the DNA of murder, Paul Hall says that he learned that heroin addicts experiencing erectile dysfunction will sometimes squeeze out a tube of toothpaste to simulate ejaculation and experience sexual sexual gratification, which they can't get because of the issues with erectile dysfunction around heroin addiction. Yeah. I've never heard that. I looked it up online. I tried to find that as like any kind of information that like pointed in that direction. And. Yeah, but I feel like that's more that's like the psychological yes approach as opposed to it wouldn't necessarily be online because that would be more of like this is, you know, you're equating one to the other.

So it's like you're trying to do the thing that's similar to the feeling. Right? So they're not saying they do it all the time. Heroin addicts do that all the time. They're saying that could be one reason why that was done. Could be yeah. Yeah. Just try looking for some sort of okay. The why of it maybe don't have me. Disagree with, Well but what's interesting about it is to me, this is and we've talked about this a lot of the what is interesting about true crime is the psychology of people, where it's like the different circumstances in your life that bring you to take these actions and what they mean.

And, and you know, your shadow self and the things that you haven't process and problems you're having and how all of those actions really represent something that's going on inside you. Totally. And somehow this like, that toothpaste thing equates to me with a hitman even more because it's this person who is so comfortable with murder, has done this so many times, it's so destructive and so not a big deal that he then makes a mess in the room and doesn't give a fuck. It's not like I snuck out and hid all the evidence.

Well now I have a beef with you because I would say hitmen just leave totally, right? They wouldn't be messing around or trying to stealing. Money any anything. I don't even think hitman stole money. I don't think they touch stuff. I think it's like they get the job done and they go. Yeah, and or use a hatchet to begin with. Although I'll argue myself now, beef with myself where it's like, but if someone, whoever it might have been, you're not always hiring, right? A CIA. Great, totally. Hitman. Will you go take care of it? Thing I can't deal with?

Yeah. Yeah. Who knows? Yeah. And they're not like a professional at all. Okay? Those unprofessional. Hitmen. Let's get it together, man. So Paul. Holes does believe that Rose and Roger were killed by a serial killer. The same person who killed William Kyle Junior and possibly another victim back in 1970. That man was named Jack McDonald, and he was 23 years old. He had been bludgeoned to death in a motel room in Meridian, Mississippi, which is ten hours or almost 11 hours away, so who knows? But they're all on the same kind of, you know, interstate close to that, connecting interstate.

So that would make sense. This is kind of. It's harkening back to the old man on a train. Love. That was my favorite. Well, it's just that idea of like the scariest idea is this untraceable stranger. Totally where it's like there's no one to connect to it. And he is already on the train out of town. Well, there is now DNA. Yeah, right. So Esparza has never charged in any of these cases, and it's so circumstantial. He's just seen near the scene of the crime. And one of the cases, and he's a heroin addict, and he dies in 1983.

But his name keeps coming up whenever people talk about this case. Now, in 2015, one of the bathroom towels that had been preserved in evidence is retested and DNA is recovered from it. There are three samples, one from Rose, one from Roger, and one from an unknown person. But it's a hotel room bath towel. Like who knows? Yes, how clean that is, right? Especially in 1980. They didn't have. Bleach. Actually no. They had like talks. The worst kind of maybe it's like even more believable. And then there's like a vast of lot of lie down in the basement or something.

Totally. But yeah, that worst case scenario for trying to, yes. Get it all down to just one person. Totally. It's not like someone's house where it shouldn't be there at all. It's like, yeah. So as far as we know, there's never been a hit on that third sample. Maybe they're testing it. Maybe they're doing their genealogical DNA. We gotta hope. Yeah. On the DNA of murder, Paul recommended Paul Hall's recommended that aspires his body be exhume and tested against that DNA sample. Wow. But as far as we know, that hasn't happened yet.

And that show is from 2019. So he probably couldn't talk yet about the fact that you could do genealogical DNA. So you don't even need to exhume him if there's other family members. He can be traced to, right? Yeah, yeah. So hopefully this doesn't stay a cold case for much longer. That is the story of the unsolved murders of Rose Burkhardt and Roger Atkinson. And you are so angry right now. Are you really. Furious? Sorry. It's so compelling. Yeah. And also, we do even talk about, like, who was the staff at that motel?

The hotel. Like. Do we have did they run background checks on anybody but. Someone like never come back to work then. You know, after that happened. And go and get a job at the next. Hotel. Totally. It's just it's so sketchy and weird and creepy in 1980s and makes you think of just these, like, deprived serial killers, like. So the right word. Depraved. Depraved. They're not. Deprived. No. It's also like the thing of it's plenty and bad enough, an ax murder or that kind of violence where it's like. But then all of these additional things that add to it, but also add to the confusion.

Yeah, because we have heard of lots of stories where it's like the Golden State killer himself, where there's so many red herrings. Yeah, that's what I think about the toothpaste thing. It just seems like such a, like, what's the call when you throw a wrench in the thing in the place? Red herring? Yep. You throw a wrench into the red herring when you throw a red herring into the toolbox. Yeah. You don't want that in there? No, because then it just lead you in a completely different direction rather than like the obvious basic facts of, like, you know, the money being stolen and the fingerprint and the way they were murdered and no break in no sense a break in.

Like, instead of that, the obvious like basic ones you have, like the soap being whittled and the fucking toothpaste and the writing in the back of the like just doesn't. It makes it so much more difficult. It seems like to like, get a clear answer. Right? And to theorize and to kind of feel like, oh, well, well, this is why this happened. Yeah. Or obviously obviously it was, you know, it was revenge. Obviously it was blank. It's just like and no, and also that's a wife who then has lost her husband in two ways. In one story, totally.

Or a heroin addict that's being accused of murder and is completely innocent and he's just actually a victim of his own drug addiction. Absolutely. Like it. All of it is just I hope you see, I hope you see my point and never drop the case. You're okay. But like in year 11 when I'm like, I have an answer to our cold case. You'll have the last laugh for sure. That's right, but I won't. But it's not that I won't laugh. No one will be laughing at all. No. And it is not a victory. No. Why do we do that? Why have we been doing this for ten years?

Some people would argue against it. Many have ten years of it all. Many have. Including. Ourselves. That's right. Wow, that was great. Horrible. Well. Thank you. I think the reason that I get upset is because I'm going to be thinking about this a lot now, and that's the thing. That's why I tell you, is I want you to take some of mine from me. Please take it. Take this off of me. It's very heavy. Now you do it. Yeah. Well, I'm going to put something on you that's heavy now. Great and insane. Okay. It's a turn. It's not left, though.

Okay, I like I like these. It's one of the crazier stories. And I was going to do it on tour. It takes place in 1930s New York City in the Bronx, okay. Where a guy in his late 20s named Tony Marino owns a speakeasy because it's the depression era, a terrible time for almost every American. But it's also the prohibition era era. So alcohol is illegal, but you can find it if you know where to get it. That means speakeasies. So if you don't know, a speakeasy is a secret bar that got its name. I just learned this from illegal British and Irish bars of the 19th century.

They called them Speak Softly shops. Oh, do like not let anyone hear you fucking being a drunk as shit. Because you're not supposed to be. Or zip it about this place. We're going to go get drunk so we can keep doing it. Got it? But doesn't that sound like I'm joking? That they used to call them Speak softly shops in England. As opposed to a speakeasy? It sounds like you're making fun of British people. Yeah, and I think, oh, yeah, we're going to. Get emails. About it. We do. Okay. So as you know, it's speakeasy special.

Knock on a hidden door, maybe a little window slides open. You say the password. We've seen Who's Who Framed Roger rabbit. We've seen Boardwalk Empire. That one too. We've seen movies and TV shows, but speakeasies ran the gamut from being swanky, having beautiful decor and very fine liquor to several notches below total dives. The worst of the worst serving liquor that could make you go blind. Homemade ethanol. Gin. Yeah. Oh God. Do you ever. Do you read about the ones with people? Tourists drinking? Oh, God. I read those stories all the time.

I don't know why I'm fascinated and horrified by them. Yeah, just like. Basically being served. Served it and all. In, like, a fucking hot. And. Yeah, it's just so terrible. It's horrible. So, So, Tony, drink wine, right? Yeah. So Tony Marino's speakeasy is one of the worst of the worst. It's a room behind an abandoned storefront. They've got a handful of tables, a ratty sofa and a toilet behind a beaded curtain. No. Yeah, don't do that. Yes, they will. In your face, they're like, you can't tell anybody about this.

We're not putting a door on the toilet. But in 1930s, like, is that actually like a luxury toilet because it's not out back. At least it's not. Yeah. If it's here, we're going to watch you do it. Well let's talk about the positives. Tony Speakeasy has a snack bar that's free for his patrons that offers assorted lunch meats, bread and sardines. I love a dive bar like buffet. Like, where was it? Like, drawing room. Would have a fucking van of hot dogs. Yeah. Hot dog water that have been sitting there for ten hours. There is a place in San Francisco called Spex. It's not.

It wasn't a dive bar. It was just kind of hidden. But they used to have little, little those plastic baskets that would have cheese and crackers that somebody cut up the cheese, and then it would go cheese cracker, cheese cracker, and you would just get drunk and sit there and be. Like, oh, these. That was my dive bar snacks. I mean, come on. Yeah. Oh, it's in Little Italy. Yes, it's the alley bar. It's one of the oldest bars. Yeah. Oh, that's a fucking great bar. And the sign is a pair of glasses. Right. And you have to know it's a bar.

It's a great place. Cheese and crackers. And also you're allowed to eat on the toilet, so just kidding. So sandwiches, of course, can't make up for the absolutely atrocious liquor that Tony serves his low down dirty patrons. They're usually unruly drunks. They all get into bar fights like it is pretty bad there, and it's the kind of place where very, very bad ideas are born. Like this one in the winter of 1932, which is like the year right before, the prohibition was repealed. Oh repealed. Oh yes. So they're all kind of doing this in this terrible place.

It's like. And to. Start over. Oops, sorry. So a group of patrons at Tony Marino Speakeasy come up with a plan to make some quick cash because, of course, everyone's broke. No one can pay their bills. Completely desperate, the riches of the rich are throwing themselves out of windows. The poor, you know, the middle class people are now super poor. Everyone's in a breadline, like, really rough. Yeah. So they. Everyone needs to make quick cash, and they decide they can do this with a plan and at the expense of one of the speakeasies regulars.

This mark is a man named Michael Malloy, who's been since described as, quote, a biological wonder. This is the story of the unkillable Mike Malloy. Oh my god. The sources Marianne used for this story are the book on the House by Simon Read, a 2020 episode of criminal, and a 2012 Smithsonian Magazine article by Abbott Keller. The rest of the sources are in our show notes. Okay, let's start with the roughly estimated 60 year old Michael Malloy. Of course, he has a very murky personal history. It's believed that he's an immigrant from Ireland, immigrated to New York City.

He doesn't seem to have family. He doesn't seem to have friends in this book on the house, author Simon Reid quotes a district attorney from back then who says, quote, I cannot prove much to you about Michael Malloy, who he was or where he came from. Malloy is, to me, an unknown. He was a derelict, hanging out in speakeasies, doing odd jobs for a bit of food or shelter, probably never on salary and always working for drinks when he could get them. Yikes. So the one thing we do know about Michael is he is a raging alcoholic.

And he's a staple at Tony's speakeasy. He's always there, typically getting so drunk on cheap whiskey and gin, he usually ends up at the end of the night, slumped on the bar like passed out. Yeah. There are other regulars at Tony Marino's speakeasy who see Michael do this night after night, like 24 year old undertaker Francis Pasqua and 29 year old grocer Daniel Kreisberg. One night, late 1932, these two men, along with Tony Marino, the owner, they get talking about their money troubles and one of them pitches a diabolical idea we should kill Michael Malloy and split the payout on his life insurance.

While he's there sleeping. Yeah. Full voice. Yeah, as they're leaning on his back. Yes. He's passed out. No. Okay. And the person who pitched this idea was Tony, and that's because he had done it before. Oh, dear. So we're talking about the 30s in like New York City. Tough. Stuff. Yeah. People going through it. People like surviving by any means necessary. The year before, Tony started an affair with a woman named Mabel Carlson, who herself was down on her luck. We don't know how old she was. He convinced her to take out a life insurance policy and name him as the beneficiary now.

And as author Albert Kaylor reports, he, quote, force fed her alcohol, stripped off her clothing, doused the sheets and mattress with ice water, and pushed the bed beneath an open window. So Mabel died, ostensibly of exposure, an alcohol overdose. But her official cause of death was listed as pneumonia, suggesting she died a natural death, and Tony collected that payout no questions asked. Shit, right? She just. This is just a lady can't take care of herself. She left the window open because she's a drunk. That's awful.

Yeah, and it's also awful because Tony's running this speakeasy with this shitty liquor and basically going, well, who of these people that I am serving this liquor to can we take advantage of because they're addicted to it? Yeah, this is the idea. Tony pitches to these two guys and they decide to make a plan. The plan is let's do the exact same thing to Michael Malloy. Anyone can see Michael is not a healthy man. He is always drunk. He's lived a very hard. Clearly and very lonely life, doesn't have a job or a permanent home.

And he basically lives on the sardine sandwiches he makes at the speakeasies bar cart, which actually is a real argument for tinned fish. Yeah, because it's. You got those oils, you got those vitamins. He also drinks an ungodly amount of very cheap alcohol. And so they probably just rationalize killing him like, oh, it's almost better for him. Look at his terrible life. So basically Francis, Daniel and Tony just ask Michael Malloy if they can take out a life insurance policy on him. It's unclear if Michael is suspicious in any way or if he's just blackout drunk, but he basically says, sure, go ahead.

Okay, so Francis Pasqua, the undertaker, sets up meetings with different insurance agents and he brings Michael with him. So it's like, I need to set up a thing for this guy. The insurers all smell a rat and they all refuse to issue any policies. Well it's. Also like, why would we give a policy to someone who isn't like a life insurance policy is to give someone money when they're like, yeah, a person who's making money. Yes, guys. Yes. For the. Family. Not just. Like cover the. Bill. Yeah. It's not just someone died, I get money.

Who can I get? This guy? And they're just like, no. Yeah. No, thanks. So Francis, Daniel and Tony have to rework the plan. They decide they're going to set up more meetings with new insurance agents. This time, they're going to leave Michael Malloy at the bar, and they're going to get a friend, a friend of Francis's, who they falsely claim is a florist named Nicholas Mallory, to go. So it takes about five months. But Francis finally finds a few insurance agents who are willing to work with him. He gets three policies taken out on this Nicholas Mallory, who again, is not real.

The two of them are with Prudential Life Insurance, ones with, Metropolitan Life Insurance. And if all goes according to plan, the three men will have around $3,500 to split between them in 1932. How much? $3,500. I'm going to go 11,083. Holy shit. Yes. Maybe it's because for them, it's so much money. Yeah. They then pull in another coconspirator. It's Tony's 28 year old bartender, Joseph Murphy, who is willing to falsely state that he himself is Nicholas Mallory's next of kin when they have to identify the body. So they just start pulling people in on the plan.

Yeah, all these men get together and they start having to discuss, how are we going to kill Michael Malloy? They decide the cleanest option is to give him an open bar tab and let him drink himself to death. And then once he's dead, they slip the fake ID into his pocket that says he's Nicholas Mallory. And then Joseph Murphy goes, identifies him as next of kin, and they get their life insurance money. When Tony Marino offers Malloy unlimited drinks at the speakeasy, he is over the moon. Of course, again, not at all suspicious.

The first day of his open tab, he drinks an insane amount of liquor. Enough. That should incapacitate him. If not outright kill him. He just goes for it and he doesn't die. He doesn't even pass out. He downstairs drinks one after the other like it's nothing. And he just eventually says good night and walks out of the bar. Oh my God, the four men. It's now four men. They are stunned. Michael comes back the next day. He's like, it's my it's open bar, open tab for me. He does it again. He put in the hangover of shitty liquor like a lot of it.

Can you imagine being in a place where the hangover doesn't matter anymore? Like it's just. Like, drink through it? Yeah. Probably never stop being drunk. Yeah, just keep going. Yeah. I've done that. The next day, he does it again. He binges this insane amount of liquor, says thanks, everybody. Goodnight leaves. Nothing happens. Then when he returns the next day, he only puts his glass down to walk over to the snack cart and make himself a sardine sandwich. The day after that, he walks into Tony's speakeasy and announces, quote, boy, ain't I got a thirst.

So he's just stoked. Yeah, it's all positive. And this really is speaks to the power of positive thinking. If you're enjoying yourself, you know anything is possible. Yeah. Obviously Francis, Daniel, Tony and Joseph need a new plan, and they decide they're just going to swap out Michael's drinks with methanol, wood alcohol. Which you're. Talking about before. It's the kind that's used as paint thinner. I mean. Yeah. Right. Right. Yeah. So of course it's not fit for human consumption. And in large quantities it could blind you or kill you.

And that's what they used to make bathtub gin with. They would mix real gin with that to kind of be the like cut it with it. Yeah. Like the baby aspirin and the cocaine. So the bartender Joseph goes out and he buys a few cans of wood alcohol at the paint shop for $0.10 a pop. Michael comes back into the bar. Joseph starts by serving him real shots of liquor, but by shots two, three, four and so on. It's just straight wood grain alcohol. Michael doesn't even seem to notice he down several drinks without so much as a shudder.

And then he keeps ordering more and more and more. They do take a toll, though. He eventually passes out, he falls to the ground. Francis is sitting at a table watching all of this. He walks over when Michael's body hits the ground. He checks his pulse. He checks his breathing. They're both slow and labored, so the guys just wait and they stand there staring at him, thinking he's dying. But then Michael starts snoring. So he wakes up a few hours later and asks for another drink. Oh God. Poor guy. So the men realize we need a new plan.

So Francis thinks back to Francis, who's the undertaker. Thinks back to a body that he handled once of a man who had died after eating bad oysters while drinking wood alcohol. And so the guys try to replicate this death by serving Michael a plate of oysters that have been marinating in straight methanol. You know, gross. Yeah. Michael gobbles them up and asks for more. Fuck. He thinks they're great. At this point. Francis, Daniel, Tony and Joseph are getting mad. They're like, this man is they basically become kind of sadistic.

One afternoon, they serve a very drunk Michael. A sardine sandwich packed with carpet tacks and broken glass. What's thinking if he's not noticing the wood grain alcohol, then maybe he'll just eat this. Oh my God. And then desperation. It's like, yeah, there they are, desperate. What the. Fuck? And they're like, okay, he'll eat this. It'll tear up his organs. Michael eats it without complaint. Joseph will later say that Michael ate it and liked it. By this point, the men are at a loss, and it seems like they're pretty vocal about this frustration because they start pulling more and more coconspirators into the plan.

Most of these guys are shady neighborhood types. They're not particularly bright. They have petty criminal backgrounds, and it includes a guy named Johnny McNally and another one named Joseph McGlone, who goes by the nickname Tinner because he has an artificial ear. So what we're going to get for our ten year anniversary. Oh ten era. I would love. A ten ear. Cute. Georgia, don't ruin our surprise. Oh. You fit it right onto your old ear. Another name tough Tony Bastoni, because he's super nice to everybody. That's a joke.

He's probably. Pretty tough. Okay. And altogether, these guys are dubbed. They'll eventually be dubbed the murder Trust in the press, which, for simplicity, we can call them now. So I don't have to name every single guy every time. So one night in December of 1932, the Murder Trust gets together to figure out how to kill Michael Malloy once and for all. They can't keep doing what they're doing. The drinking for free is costing Tony and his speakeasy a lot of money that he doesn't have to spare. On top of all the other costs like the wood alcohol, the oysters.

And also, a month has passed since they took out the life insurance policies. So now the first premium payment. Our dad. They're spending money on them. They're spending a lot of money that nobody has. It's like the problem starts that we don't have any money, right? So now it's like chasing good money after bad. Figuring out how to move forward isn't easy, though, because now there's eight men pitching ideas and it's chaos. And it's a chaos filled with very, very dumb ideas like one. Packs in a fucking sardines. Sardine sandwich was like one of the good ones that made it all the way to.

Like. Production. So at one point, one of the men suggested they shoot Michael, but then he's reminded that it needs to look like a natural death, so they get the payout right. So once again, in. Natural shooting, I. Just very natural one look, it's natural here in New York City, once again, it's Francis Pasqua who decides what route they'll take. The men basically look back to how Tony killed Mabel Karlsson. They get him drunk, he blacks out, they throw him into the park, strip him down, put him on a park bench, dump water all over him and leave us the next morning, none other than Michael Malloy shows up at Tony Marino Speakeasy.

Oh my God, he's a little. Worse for wear. He is very cold and he can't remember how he wound up outside the night before, but he's basically fine. The murder trust regroups again, and they decide they're going to run Michael over with a car this time. They're going to try to make it look like a hit and run. So they pull in yet another coconspirator, a 24 year old cab driver named Harry green, who agrees to do the job for $150, which is worth how much in today's money. A thousand. 3700. You say that as if I'm anywhere close.

I'm just trying to support you. I appreciate it. Because I love this. Game, I hate it, I never even close. So at this speakeasy, Joseph gets Michael blackout drunk again. Then some of the murder trust guys take Michael's body to a nearby road where there's not a lot of traffic. They put a fake, the Nicholas Mallory fake ID card in his pocket. Lay him down on the road, and Harry Greene hits Michael with the taxi before reversing backwards over the bus. The Harry and the murder truck men flee the scene. The next morning, they pore over that day's newspaper.

They're looking for the reports of a fatal hit and run. Nothing's there. Joseph Murphy, who is supposed to be the one that poses as Nicholas Mallory's next of kin, starts calling around to local hospitals and morgues, asking if anyone has seen his his missing brother, Nicholas. No one matches the name or description. So now the murder truck guys are losing it because they think they finally done it. They have no proof of Nicholas Mallory's death to show their insurers, which means they can't claim the payout. So they're like stuck in this weird, weird middle realm.

Limbo. A limbo, some might say. And as they're freaking out about what they're going to do, they start talking about should they just get rid of this whole idea about Michael Malloy and just kill a random drunk who happens to walk into the speakeasy and just use that body as Nicholas Mallory? Right. But five days after running Michael over and before they can make good on the new plan, Michael waltzes into Tony's speakeasy, limping and bandaged but ready for a drink. It's like, I know not everyone should procreate, you know.

Like me. But this guy, like should, has those jeans on superhuman. You're superhuman. And also, what a great attitude. It's truly. What a kind of try. Try. Again. I go see my friends. Yeah. So sad. Incredibly. Not long after being run over, Michael was discovered by a cop. Oh. He was still clinging to life, lying in a nearby ditch. He was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion, a fractured skull, and a fractured shoulder. After he's stabilized and discharged, he came straight back to Tony's, still completely unaware that that these were the people that did it.

Poor guy. Like, go to a new bar. Oh, he's like, stop drinking. Why are there. Sandwiches, sandwiches and free drinks? Yeah. And he has absolutely no memory of being hit by a car. Sure. The I'm sorry to say, upside of being a drunk. Yeah. It's those details. Don't you know it? It is though. They come later in the night. To come back. Yeah. All of a sudden you're like, laying there like, wait, what? You've never had that where they come, it's like weird little of my. Blackouts are blacked out for life. That's nice. Yeah, it is blacked out for life.

I had one where like, the next day, I was like. That was so fun. At the bar last night. And then it was like. It looked like a Polaroid picture of this guy that I liked going, like this. And I was like, oh, no. I tried to kiss him. I tried to kiss him. And he was like, no, no, no. Oh God. Like slowly, like a Polaroid slowly developing in front of me. I'm like, wait, it's like faces. Why is why is that look on his face? No, mine are gone. Thank fucking God. Until Vince tells them to me and I'm like, don't talk to me about.

This back. Now. It's his fault. It's his fault. You're talking to me. I did not know. I didn't know, I didn't. That's not true. Okay, so now the murder trust guys are in deep. They have insurance premiums. Do. And now they have a personal extra grind with Michael Malloy because they're that kind of guy. Yeah. So they pivot again. They decide to rent out an apartment in Nicholas Mallory's name, where basically they. It's a few blocks from the speakeasy. Of course, it has a gas. Nozzles, gas hookups, for the lighting fixtures on February 23rd, 1933, which is three months into this whole ordeal, they give Michael Malloy wood alcohol at the speakeasy until he blacks out.

They carry him to this apartment, lock him inside, open up those gas nozzles. And this is what finally kills Michael Malloy. Hi. Hey. When they go back to make sure he's dead, Francis Pasqua asks a specific Bronx doctor who he knows through his business as an undertaker, to show up at the apartment and claim that Michael, who is now Nicholas Mallory, has died of pneumonia. And in exchange for that, Francis promises this doctor $100 of the increasingly spoken for insurance payout. 3000. 2400. That was pretty close.

But just one day after murdering Michael Malloy, the murder trust guys bury his body in a cheap box in a pauper's grave. A day after that, Francis shows up to the respective insurance office, asking for the payout. Metropolitan life gives him $800, which. Is which is four. Five, seven, 20,000. Yes, 20,000 for that, for five. 20,000 in today's money. But the Prudential agents are extremely. Suspicious, like they care more than the cops do about this. You know, like they have literally more to lose. Yeah, it's all about money, baby.

And they want to see the body. So Francis tells them that won't be possible. Nicholas Mallory has already been buried. So now the insurers are launching an investigation. So this is very bad news for the murder trust, of course, but they're they internally are having problems. They only have $800 from Metropolitan that they're divvying up among ten people at this point. And that isn't going well. They're fighting. Some are some people are demanding more money than others. The whole thing is descending into serious chaos.

And, of course, it bubbles over into physical violence. Joseph McGlone whips out a gun and shoots tough Tony Bastoni in the speakeasy. In his. Speakeasy in the speakeasy. Yeah. It's not his. Speakeasy. No, no, no, no, I. Meant like he shoots him in. The speakeasy. It wears on your body, you know, like the bread basket. It's a it's. The soft room or. Whatever the British call it. Yeah. When the cops arrive, they arrest McGlone. But they also take Joseph Murphy into custody as a material witness to tough Tony's murder.

Oh. Tony dies. Tough Tony dies. Okay, so at the time, these cops are oblivious, that these guys are wrapped up in the murder of Michael Malloy. They don't know even know who Michael Malloy is yet. But they start chatting with regulars at the speakeasy while investigating the tough Tony shooting. And those interviewees start to tell them everything. Because this is just a room full of drunks eaten sandwiches and going to the back rest. Go in the bathroom. Behind a curtain, a bead curtain. Definitely not washing their hands afterwards.

No no no. Where you got the toilet? Oh no. Yeah. It's a room full of drunks. Yeah. It's rough. So it turns out these witnesses know so much because they've either overheard these guys talking at the bar. Because when you're drunk, you're too loud. Shh. Or they were approached about joining the conspiracy by the murder trust. But they weren't interested. Or maybe they were just a drunk that had some ethics and were like, no, I don't I don't want to. I don't want to kill anybody. I just want to drink at a bar. No thank you. I just want to fucking sardines. Sandwich.

Yeah. Do you mind? But then they kept going to that bar, like. That's weird. Well, it's they. There weren't that many. Oh, it was like they. You had to find one. To go to let you know. Yeah. You're okay. I hear. You. You had to be in to go into the bathroom in public. My grandma had a. Beaded curtain. In between her kitchen and, like, the living room. Wow. And there was it was like the beginning of my days of loving. I was go through it, be like Frank. It just felt so like a fucking. Like you were on stage. Yes. Like glamorous. Action.

That's so, so just me picturing that when it was like, wait, what? Just like. Hi everybody. I went to the bathroom also, could you imagine what it smelled like in this photo? Oh, is that about. The hand washing thing? Hand washing part of that? No door. Sardines. The smell of. Old drunk person's piss was end like the aim had to be so. Bad. No, the aim, I mean, okay. Let me read. This paper. Can we talk about smells? One witness knows the ins and outs of all these plans so. Well, simply from hanging out there, he can point officers to the exact spot where Michael Malloy was buried.

Wow. Just from overhearing it. So in may have. Literally. Seriously, if you do anything in this life, please keep your voice up. Just truly. Yeah. If you got to talk, whisper. Yeah. There's nothing. Wrong. Someone's always listening. That's what you need to assume at all times. Might not. Like here. Like here. Right now. It's as if microphones are on you at all times. Okay. In May 1933, which is a month or so after Michael was killed, his body is exhumed and a pathologist determines that he has died of carbon monoxide poisoning, not pneumonia.

At this point, investigators have also heard about Tony's scheme involving Mabel Carlson. Her body is exhumed, and while it's unclear if her cause of death is ever formally reclassified, investigators do establish clear similarities between her and Michael's cases. It doesn't seem like anyone's ever charged in Mabel's death. For a woman. It's hard to suss out, though. Yeah, so by now, the police have enough information to arrest the murder trust gang. Tony Marino, Frank Francis Pasqua, Daniel Kreisberg, bartender Joseph Murphy, cab driver Harry green, all charged with first degree murder, and their trials begin in October of 1933.

It's all wrapped up in two weeks. Most of the men are sentenced to death, with Harry green avoiding the death penalty and instead going to sing Sing for several years on a felonious assault conviction. That's the cab. Driver. Yes. He came in like very late in the game. So this is a horrible story. That is just a it like is odd beating but ultimately incredibly tragic. Yeah. And horrible. But if there is a silver lining, it's the enduring legacy of Michael Malloy himself. Because despite the actions of the men who conspired to murder him and saw no value in his life, the country at large comes to feel very differently about him.

Because of course, this story is so crazy. It's it gets national coverage across the United States. Readers learn of the so-called durable barfly who just wouldn't die, and they find it weirdly inspiring. It's the Great Depression. Yeah, and it's like everything's coming at you. They come at you with everything and you get back up. Wow. And that idea is. Like an inspiration if I can. Story. Yeah yeah. Oh my God. Over time, Michael Malloy's name has stuck around in the zeitgeist, earning one colorful nickname after the other iron Mike, the Rasputin of the Bronx, and even The Man Who Wouldn't Die.

These names might come as a surprise to the people who bumped into Michael Malloy during his life. But as writer Simon Reed has put it, quote, he arrived to the United States in obscurity and lived in anonymity. But through death he would achieve cult immortality. That's the story of the ill fated battle to murder Michael Malloy. Wow, isn't that fucking nuts? Yeah. Corporate tax and broken glass. And sardines. And. Grady. And sardines. And still, the answer is no. I will not die. Amazing. And kept a positive attitude about it, too.

Like it seems like. Kept a drunken attitude right. Back into that bar. Open tab. I'm coming back tomorrow. I still know the password. I still want a sandwich. That's amazing. No crates of whales. Wow. Kind of a nice, inspirational way for us to start off. 2026 would be a little later in the year for other people, but. Yeah, well, you know, you can start it whenever you want. Like dry January. You can start whenever you want. That's very true. And also Chinese New Year is coming up. So. All right do it then. Should we think of a new way to end the episodes top ten year or 2026 or like what do you think. Yes.

All right. Well, come back next week, you guys, because the ten year anniversary, it's going to be full of surprises. I'm going to wear tinfoil. Yes. Tinfoil dresses. Briefcase. Oh, do you have one? I mean, I don't know if it qualifies because I can't remember. Did we say we had to get them at thrift stores? No, but they're vintage. I think we did. But who fucking cares? At this point. I got mine at Marshalls. That's all I'm saying. Oh okay. So how are we doing this? We're just presenting each other with. Hey, look, here's my.

Yeah, I guess we have to figure out the whole idea. Okay? We talked about it so long ago. To me, it feels like we literally talked about this in the summertime. No, we did before that. Probably before that. If I had a. Uterus last time we talked about this, that's how fucking long it's been. What do you watch? How should we end this? Like, on a positive note? So, like, tell us. Hey, everyone, tell us what you were doing while we were doing that. Tell us what you're doing ten years ago and what you're doing now. Oh, yeah, that's right.

We are asking people we we know we have changed. Yeah. What we have gone through and grown. There's a lot of people that when they write in, they kind of tell us at the end if they have like Minnesota stories. Yeah. Where it's like when I first started listening, I, I was in college, I did this. Yeah, I'm, you know, doctor. Yeah. We've heard and or anything in between. We should read some of those next week for your anniversary. Yeah. And we're going to have a special guest here that we won't. But I'll surprise you. Oh, yes.

A very exciting special guest. So if you want to tell us your ten year arc of being a murderer, you know, we would love to hear it go. My favorite murder at gmail.com. Or just comment on our Instagram or TikTok or, you. Know, yeah, there's lots of different ways. To do it. Yeah, you you can figure. It and. Oh, let's have it address your your animal, your your pet up in tin foil to send us photos of. Your you know, I stand against that I will quit. You know, Elvis was so afraid of tinfoil that we would put it around the Christmas tree. So he wouldn't just go.

Climate. Yes. Tinfoil and bananas. He hated both. So we would circle the Christmas tree with tin foil and banana. That's hilarious. That was very cute. Well, that's full circle. Yeah, I think we just should end it. Stay sexy and don't get murdered. All we can do really? Goodbye.

To.

Questions about this episode

Who speaks in "The Cold Case Murders of Rose Burkert & Roger Atkinson + The Unkillable Michael Malloy | MFM 514"?

Mabel Carlson (Guest), Paul Holes (Guest), Marcella Atkinson (Guest), Georgia Hardstark (Host), Karen Kilgariff (Host), Michael Malloy (Guest), Roger Atkinson (Guest), Rose Burkhardt (Guest).

What is "The Cold Case Murders of Rose Burkert & Roger Atkinson + The Unkillable Michael Malloy | MFM 514" about?

The main topic explores the unsolved murders of Rose Burkert and Roger Atkinson, alongside the bizarre survival story of Michael Malloy, who famously survived multiple murder attempts. The discussion touches on the chilling details of these cold cases and the peculiar circumstances surrounding Malloy's resilience against fatality.

What is mentioned in this My Favorite Murder episode?

49 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Murder, Michael Malloy, Georgia Hardstark, Karen Kilgariff, Tony Marino, Speakeasy. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "The Cold Case Murders of Rose Burkert & Roger Atkinson + The Unkillable Michael Malloy | MFM 514"?

The episode runs 1 h 15 min; the transcript is about 13,746 words in 132 timestamped sections.

More from My Favorite Murder

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 24, 2026.