The Murder Police Podcast
The Murder Police Podcast
Goodbye Season 9, Hello Season 10!
Season Ten Premiere!
Welcome back to The Murder Police Podcast! As we bid farewell to Season Nine, we are thrilled to dive into Season Ten with renewed vigor and a fresh studio setup.
In this episode, Wendy and David reflect on the journey so far and provide a sneak peek into the gripping cases that will be explored this season.
Our hosts take a moment to reminisce about the impactful episodes of Season Nine, including the enlightening discussions on police polygraphs with Eddie Pearson and the role of a prosecutor with Louanna Red Corn. They also revisit the heart-wrenching case of Letha Rutherford, whose tragic story was meticulously covered in a six-part series.
As we transition into Season Ten, Wendy and David introduce the haunting case of Timmy Sterner, a young man who went missing shortly after being released from incarceration. Through interviews with Timmy’s family and friends, this season aims to uncover the truth behind his mysterious disappearance and bring justice to his grieving loved ones.
Shop for Murder Police Podcast swag by clicking HERE today! 10% of ALL swag and merch proceeds are donated to the DNA Doe Project.
See what you have been missing on YouTube!
Welcome to the Murder Police Podcast.
David Lyons:Goodbye, season 9 and hello Season 10.
Wendy Lyons:Warning the podcast you're about to listen to may contain graphic descriptions of violent assaults, murder and adult language. Listener discretion is advised. Welcome to the Murder Police Podcast. Goodbye, season 9.
David Lyons:And hello, Season 10. Well, Wendy, what do we got for everybody today?
Wendy Lyons:Well, david, we're close. First, I got to say this this is the first time in our own podcast studio I've sat in this new arrangement we have and I kind of like it yeah you missed out when the detectives came down and talked about Letha Rutherford, which we're going to discuss in a minute.
David Lyons:Detectives came down and talked about Letha Rutherford, which we're going to discuss in a minute, a very unsolved case for 32 years, that we were hoping we'd get momentum and that was the trial run of this. In case you've noticed, we're getting away from the little wooden table which served us well, but it was a little harder to work around and things like that. The feng shui is a little bit better in this studio.
Wendy Lyons:Yeah, I'm feeling kind of cozy.
David Lyons:Yeah, it's nice. I dig it. I think it just looks a lot nicer for the YouTube element. So I guess we want to talk a little bit about how we've done before. Season nine is now a wrap. That's right. It's hard to believe, in the few years we've been doing this, that we got to nine seasons.
Wendy Lyons:We have ten now.
David Lyons:Well, yeah, ten, we have 10 now. Before that all the audio was on YouTube and of course, we're on all the platforms for podcasts themselves. So go back and pick those up and we're going to refer to some of them that are relative to what is going to happen in Season 10 on the style of case we take and the case facts. So we started out Season 9 with an amazing two episodes on what the police polygraph is and isn't, with Eddie Pearson.
Wendy Lyons:Yeah, that was very educational. I learned a lot. You know I've sat in that polygraph before in the academy and and other times probably no, and other times, no other times. You know, sitting on that end of it is it's nervous, it makes you very nervous.
David Lyons:but when eddie sat down, he's really nothing short of a genius, I'll tell you I let me I got to be clear about this is that back in my career I sent many people to the to use the box to the polygraph and I've observed all of them that I sent and I had an idea what it was. But I, in talking to Eddie, I really learned a lot and I've yeah, you know.
David Lyons:I travel a lot and I've spoke to cops all over the country that picked up on those two episodes and I know that other people like this, because if you want to learn how to cheat a polygraph, you you have to watch our two episodes. But anyway, we'll leave that at that. You have to go back and get that and uh. But I do know that a lot of cops watch it and are like wow, and I've always respected Eddie Pearson. He is a retired police detective and he does this as a civilian now and my respect gained about 100 points that night, just in his knowledge, very, very knowledgeable and he's coming back, he's going to get in and he's going to talk about physical indicators of truthfulness and all the fancy names for that.
David Lyons:So we're dying to have him back. Yeah, and I got to add this too, that you know, when you work with somebody for years, you don't always know them, know them. But behind Wendy, you might make it out, is a green background picture that Eddie painted of my horse George. Oh yeah, old.
Wendy Lyons:George.
David Lyons:Yeah, so Eddie, I never knew this, but he's an artist and he's great at what he does.
Wendy Lyons:He didn't even realize it, he just picked it up one day. Yeah, he picked it up one day, I think he said during COVID, exactly so.
David Lyons:I'm kind of delayed in that, but if you want an idea of what my guy George looks like, that's him back there, there he is, by Eddie Van Gogh.
David Lyons:Eddie Van Gogh, exactly, yeah, I think their hearing is still intact in both ears, though, but uh, yeah, he was something else, so it was one of those we like. We like to bring cases to people and we like to talk about how they're done, but a big part of what we do is is the educational piece is yeah, because so many people didn't or I didn't realize all that went into that.
Wendy Lyons:I tell you the other informative piece that you know we had uh, dr greg davis on talking. You know really what it takes to be a medical examiner. But yeah, and speaking of educational pieces, what followed, eddie, was our interview with Luanna Redcorn.
David Lyons:Yeah, that was Luanna. Redcorn is a former Commonwealth's attorney in this part of Kentucky. I've met her when she was a deputy or an assistant Commonwealth attorney and I actually went to trial with her on some of my cases. She later took her a ray of the ace place, unfortunately when he had retired and of course we lost him later.
David Lyons:But Luanna came to talk about the role of a prosecutor and that varies from different prosecutor's offices across the country. For example, last week I was in Texas and had some people with the Harris County Prosecutor's Office there and they actually do investigations Well, here they usually don't. They have some things they follow up on but they just give a honey-do list over to the police department and say knock this out. In other places it's more powerful. In other places the prosecutor's office is the one that greenlights whether you take someone to jail or not.
David Lyons:So Luanna gave a lot of background on what they do and, again, what they don't do probably dispelled a lot of myths and urban legends out there and also the idea that the rarity of women in that role and she was clear to point out that women broke through the glass ceiling of becoming attorneys years ago and that's just increased Locally in Fayette County, where I work, it's hard-pressed to find a male judge right now, and that's a testament to people changing their ideas and their beliefs and letting people get elected for the right reasons and doing the job, and so she spoke to that quite a bit, talked about her. The person that succeeded her was Kimberly Henderson. Another woman took that role. The cool thing and I think you got a kick out of this is Luanna talked about her heritage with the Osage Nation.
Wendy Lyons:Yeah, and we had watched the movie prior to her Well actually you said you've got to watch this movie, so you know what she's talking about.
David Lyons:Amen.
Wendy Lyons:And it was very long that movie like three hours but it was so informative and really horrific at what the Osage Indians had endured Exactly. And Luanna, like you said, is part of that Osage heritage and she now, in her retirement, spends a lot of time out there with them. There's a lot of education.
David Lyons:A lot of education, things like that, and she went into the what was needed for her to go into the backdrop of the basis of the movie and the book that the movie was made from.
Wendy Lyons:Yeah.
David Lyons:And she has relatives that were entwined in that too. But it was good. It really it showed about the importance of when law enforcement really puts their eye on a problem, or have they turned a blind eye?
David Lyons:And that's one of the uglies in the history of American law enforcement is that when I teach, I always say that we came from pretty crummy stock and to see the industry continue to progress forward is nice, but that was a case where a lot of people had gone dead and it was like just wrote off and things like that, until what was about to be the FBI came in, and she goes into a lot of detail on that too. So that was super informative, again, not in just what the Commonwealth attorney does, but that, and you know, there was one thing that she said when we were talking to her. That's in one of those episodes I never forgot. I had mentioned how it was so different than what I got taught in school, and you know what she said she goes well.
David Lyons:Unfortunately, history is written by the winners, and that's a perspective thing we all need to remember too. Is that that was realistic? So on the podcast on our website you can find the thing called Murder Police U, and I usually try to hike those educational pieces into it, as in Murder Police University. Eventually, stand by, we're going to grow that in quite a few ways too. That's going to become a….
Wendy Lyons:Get your PhD.
David Lyons:Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah. Get your learning on get cap and gown and whole thing and learn about this murder police business. Um, speaking of the business where the biggest part of season nine, as we closed out, was six episodes, yeah, that that case was.
Wendy Lyons:We've only done maybe one other that had as many episodes as that, but it was Letha Rutherford.
David Lyons:Yeah, it's called. Who Killed Letha? It's a 30-plus. We're not going to use the code case because the code case detectives said that they're and this is more than semantics, and I agree with them is maybe we don't need to coin them that way, because for the surviving family members that feels like it's dead.
Wendy Lyons:It's like you're lost.
David Lyons:So they're penned. And I've said before a thousand times before that I know we call them code cases, but any case that's unsolved, is accessible and with new information is going to run. So maybe that's not fair to call them code. They're older. So maybe that's not fair to call them cold. They're older. I do know too that I've told I just told a family that we're getting ready to talk about here in a few minutes that we all understand the importance of time in the first couple of days after a murder or somebody goes missing. But as frustrating as it is, time can actually start to be your friend after a while.
Wendy Lyons:Oh yeah.
David Lyons:Because of what the dynamics happen, but go and listen to who K letha. It's about a beautiful 18 year old girl that went missing um and was discovered months later yeah, roughly four months later about four months later I discarded kind of casually under a junk pile which which is just wrong. And so we interviewed, uh, the cold case detectives. I just said it the cold case detectives I'm, I look at you, I look at me, there we go, is we?
David Lyons:interviewed the cold case detectives. I just said it the cold case detectives. Look at you, I look at me there we go.
Wendy Lyons:We interviewed the homicide detectives. The homicide detectives that's currently working on it. Yeah, the murder cops that are working on it the murder cops, the murder police.
David Lyons:And talked to them about the status of the case and things like that. That's the first episode. Then we spent a lot of time talking to family and friends about who Letha was. Yeah, and again, you get to know these victims and that's one of the things we try to do is share that. They're not a number and they're not a blurb and a blurry microfiche version of a newspaper headline, and that's about what Letha is reduced to after 30 plus years. But we get to know who those people are and in that case, these people came forward.
David Lyons:You know one thing that some of the listeners that commented on social media picked up on, and I'll explain this. We've talked about it before that case and, like most cases, there's a lot of rumors and ideas on responsible parties and motives and things that might have happened. In that case. They're there and when you hear us interview you'll see them. Likely alluded to but we've talked about this before is on the Murder Police Podcast. We're not going to get into rumor control and we're not going to get into over-theorizing, and the reasons we're not going to do that is that one.
David Lyons:A lot of those rumors have names associated with them and it's unfair to informally and publicly indict anybody for something because, like any investigator will tell you, we all can be wrong, and so we make no wine before our time. The second thing is is that there's only one place that we want to see justice in the families that we work with want to see justice and that's in a court of law. It's not in a Facebook post, it's not in an Instagram or TikTok reel. It's not somebody blasting somebody they think was responsible or had something to do with it. That's not justice. Maybe virtue justice is what I'd call that, but it's ineffective. And the other thing is that it can ruin a case. It can destroy a case.
David Lyons:That said, that said, that said, the tree got shook and in those six episodes that went out, information again that we're just not going to talk about started to come forward, and I don't think it's enough on its face right now, but what I'm getting at is new things came to the surface.
Wendy Lyons:Yes.
David Lyons:We got a sense that people who may have been afraid 30 years ago to say things are no longer afraid now and all of that obviously gets turned over to the homicide detectives. So we'll say a little prayer that maybe the you know. We always say we want people to know these victims and we want to maybe shake that tree and get something to happen. So I feel pretty good that some of the information, as a result of just blasting the information we did, got some people up off the ground a little bit.
Wendy Lyons:Yeah, and, like always, we hope, most importantly, that justice is brought for. Luthan for her family.
David Lyons:That's it In a court of law.
David Lyons:And we live in a world and this is going to be critical but I'm passionate about this. I'm a big victim advocate. We live in a world where a lot of people think justice is yelling it in social media on your suspicions, which a lot of times learns, it leans into and it becomes harassment of people who may or may not be involved. Tons of stories of where that goes wrong, which makes it look bad for the web sleuths out there to do good work, because there's a lot of people that do incredible work, but they're responsible and they're restrained. We're just not going to do that here. We're going to memorialize these victims. We're going to help shake the tree. I'm relying on a lot of many years of experience and advice of people who've done this for a living that we just don't need to go there.
Wendy Lyons:Well, I think also what I've found in that case with Letha and the one we're about to talk to is how important it is for those victims' family and friends to be heard and to be able to talk about that and relive the memory of their loved one, but also to help seek justice, because these families are really, you know, they're hurting yeah.
David Lyons:Yeah, there we go. If there's anything that should be put on blast, it's the family and friends saying this is who my loved one and my friend was. This is what they meant to me. This is they meant the world to me, no matter what walk of life they were.
David Lyons:That should be on blast all the time and we collectively should be thinking about those people and encouraging people that might have information to come forward so that we get that knocked out. And you mentioned it, I did. That's season nine. Six of those episodes were Letha and we're hoping that justice does come and comes forward, because that's a beautiful family. I mean they were amazing to sit down and speaking of another beautiful. Have you noticed how, when we do these unsolved and these missings, we actually gain a whole new set of friends?
Wendy Lyons:We do, so I'm going to go on and lead us right into 10.
David Lyons:Yeah, do that.
Wendy Lyons:You know, I was approached. You were out of town and I was approached by a friend that, by happenstance, was connected to me in several different ways, and she approached me one day. She called and asked if we would be interested in this case that took place in April of this year, 2024, that took place in April of this year, 2024, and of a missing young man. And I told her that you know, let me talk to David and see, because you know you can sometimes need to know if it fits criteria or if we can talk about it yet, and so I was so surprised I had you only on the phone.
Wendy Lyons:Usually you need to think about things for for a while. You know how you are.
Wendy Lyons:uh, I think I wasn't even two minutes into the conversation and you said let's do it oh yeah I was blown away, you it's what I've been looking for it yeah and so the story of this is about a young man named uh, timmy sterner, and Timmy had been incarcerated and went missing the day after he got released in April, and so we have been on this journey these last couple of weeks, really interviewing family and friends, and we have talked to a lot of people, and we're still set at this time to talk to his mother, but we have spoken to his father and his grandmother and his uncle and friends as well, and this family, just like Letha's, they want answers and they're deserved answers. Just like Letha's, they want answers and they're deserved answers. This case is so mind-boggling to me, I guess because there's so many details that I've been involved in with yeah and to let the audience know.
David Lyons:Is that going back to Letha's? I thought when we got done with Letha's six episodes and I remember sitting there every time we would interview somebody else. It's like this road that has many winds and turns and I thought for the audience welcome to being a murder cop. That's victimology. If you do the job, you will have the same interviews that we had with these people and with lots of people. I would challenge everybody to go back and listen to Lethal and then listen to we're going to call this one. Never Forget About Little Timmy. This is coming out very soon and the episodes will start to drop. As you listen, get a notepad and do two things Try to keep track of his last moments and then jot down ideas on what are the range of possibilities as to what could happen to timmy.
David Lyons:Uh, just like kevin k jacks jackson, which is another one we did with a beautiful mother that it doesn't have answers, just like with michael uh gorley uh another beautiful family that doesn't have answers and and I'm just going to hint them off to this that one of the things about this case is, just like those other two cases we covered, we have a solid last known location yes, solid last seen with, which means people who were seen with, and it's more than one. We'll stop there but go back, listen to K Jackson, listen to Michael Gourley and start listening to Never Forget Little Timmy, because that's where the frustration is and you can draw some conclusions pretty quickly about where that would go. But I'd like people to go on the Murder Police podcast or the Murder Police case briefing on Facebook or Instagram or TikTok or wherever you find your social media and you're following us and, as you're listening, throw out your ideas. What do you think? What do you think the possibilities are, because there's a range out there.
Wendy Lyons:There is, and you know when you sit down with each of the different people. I think what's so important, what's frustrating about this particular case with little Timmy, is everyone has the same ideal about what happened. And we're talking to them separately, but it all leads back to the last known address.
Wendy Lyons:That's it it's. I mean, you know, like I said, we've sat down with some of his family and these people obviously, like anybody would be that has a missing child even though he's an adult, that family it was, the interview with his dad, was heartbreaking and that family just deserves answers.
David Lyons:And those answers are out there.
Wendy Lyons:They're out there and, you know, nothing would please me more than to know that we had I mean, I know the detective has still ultimately worked it but nothing would please me more than to know that we helped get the family answers, because at this point they just want to know where little Timmy is.
David Lyons:We just need to shake that tree. Yeah, so that's really I'm excited about this one, and I can't. I don't know how many episodes there'll be yet when you're producing these, oh gosh we've probably already interviewed scissors and people.
Wendy Lyons:Oh exactly, we're not even near done.
David Lyons:No, not near done, so it's going to be a mini series in itself and, again, what the audience is going to hear is who he is. But listen closely and one, let's care about him and let's care about that family.
David Lyons:Let's be passionate about the idea that they deserve answers and if justice is delivered as part of this, they deserve that too. But again, I would challenge people to listen to these unsolves and come up with what you would if you were the investigator. What would your motions be and whatever. Maybe we ought to get better on social media about that.
Wendy Lyons:Yeah, I was going to say I would love to open that up, for whether people message us on Facebook or however you set up, for them to contact.
Wendy Lyons:I would love to hear, because I'm sure most people's minds work like mine they're hearing the story and they instantly have questions. Sure, sure, because every time I'm watching one of my many favorite episodes of whatever true crime I'm watching, I sit there and I think I hope they've asked this, or I wonder if they're going to ask that and I think that was the catalyst to our podcast was because you know I'm so inquisitive and that's exactly what I take into all these interviews, whether it's with the detective or with families. I always wonder certain things. So I would like to ask the listeners if you listen to these episodes when they drop and if you have questions, send those to us. It might be something that, because we're pretty deep into this one I'd say we might be deeper in this one than we have been in probably any of them- so far, right, yeah, you get in pretty deep.
Wendy Lyons:I would welcome outside questions. Maybe we've asked and we just can't talk about it on our recordings, but maybe we haven't even thought about that yet.
David Lyons:Well, I do know that a lot of the people, we're blessed, a lot of people that follow us on the comments that they make on social media. They're really brilliant, and I'm not just saying that.
Wendy Lyons:I'm not blowing smoke.
David Lyons:I think that our audience really does ask really good questions and pertinent questions and things like that, so we'll look at some ways to do that. You know, I've been playing with the idea of live streaming. We haven't done a live stream before. Maybe we can wrap these cases with a live stream.
Wendy Lyons:I'd really have to be on the best behavior.
David Lyons:Yeah, I didn't say you'd be in a room. No, we can't take any chances with the FCC or Congress.
Wendy Lyons:Well, thank goodness that you can re-edit, re-edit, yeah, re-edit, yeah, re-edit, it's not re-edit. Well, when I do yours.
David Lyons:it is like re-editing, Editing and re-editing. You cuss like a sailor. It's on leave in New York.
Wendy Lyons:I mean it's pretty bad. I've really been on my best behavior since we've been videoing.
David Lyons:Yeah, that's true. So season 10 is on its way. It is It'll. I know these are kind of like evergreen, but it's about the first episode will drop in about a week and people are waiting for that. And again, let's get to know who little Timmy is and let's not forget little Timmy and let's shake that tree.
David Lyons:I know that this is local, but people are connected all over the country with one another, and I guess what I'd finish with is again a sincere thank you to the people that have jumped in with us since day one, and you're patient when we miss a couple weeks, but we're putting content together in the background. Yeah, we're both really busy, so we do that.
Wendy Lyons:We're always working behind the scenes on the next thing.
David Lyons:Amen, and so we want to thank you all for the loyalty. Please share us with your friends, and so we want to thank you all for the loyalty. Please share us with your friends. If you haven't go to YouTube and search for the Murder Police Podcast channel, we have a lot of subs there. We'd love to have you on YouTube too.
Wendy Lyons:Again, it's a multi-camera experience and you get to see what you're missing or something.
David Lyons:Well, and it also, I think, helps to put faces with voices.
Wendy Lyons:It sure does, and I think in these last few episodes not that it hasn't been the case with Leith or any other, but with this particular case with little Timmy Sterner just seeing that it isn't emotional enough. But when you see that you really it resonates to what they're going through.
David Lyons:And also don't forget, too, that you go to the website murderpolicepodcastcom and go down to the shop button. We have a merch store that, and I'm not pumping it just for that. But go get some fall gear for this. We've got hoodies and things like that. But the big thing about that is 10% of all the proceeds that we make off of that go to the DNA Doe Project, yes, which is really big to us, it's big in our heart of the amazing work that that project does. And I'll throw another shameless request too. So we want you to subscribe to YouTube.
David Lyons:And tell your friends, tell your friends, tell your friends well and um, we would you know if, if it's in your heart to go to apple and give us five stars and a and a review, and if, if you're down for that and everything. So, yeah, that's, that's a big one right there. Five stars in the review, we do. We. You know, I don't think I asked for that in the episodes, but we'll ask you for it now. I'll throw something in just this time only not available on TV or in stores.
Wendy Lyons:Oh my goodness, here we go. Is it a buy one, get one free?
David Lyons:No, it is. If you do throw us five stars in a nice review, in a glowing review, email us at murderpolicepod at gmailcom.
Wendy Lyons:Can you repeat that again?
David Lyons:Sarah yeah, murderpolicepod at gmailcom. Can you repeat that again, sarah yeah, murderpolicepod at gmailcom and say I just left you five stars on Apple with a review and you've got to do that because we can't tell you who you are through the user and if you're in the lower 48 states, we'll turn around and ship you a swag box That'll have a copy money.
Wendy Lyons:Do you need them to send you proof? I'm not. No, we. You're going on the honors.
David Lyons:We yeah well, we were trusting people, and these are the people that listen to us, so that we will just trust them to do that. But if you're in the lower 48, cause I'm not made out of money, I can't ship things to Australia, unfortunately. Sorry Australia. Or anywhere else but uh, we'll send you a coffee mug. We've got little swag boxes that are just ready to go. So with that, thank you.
Wendy Lyons:Yes, thank you so much. I'm so pleased that we've made it to season 10.
David Lyons:I am too.
Wendy Lyons:I never thought your idea of when you were out riding on the mowers would come to be what it is.
David Lyons:Yes, but here we are. There we go. Some of my best ideas In cozy chairs, and not even at a table.
David Lyons:Yeah, we're moving on up. We and not even at a table. Yeah, we're moving on up, we're moving on up. So, thank you again and be watching for the start of Never Forget About Little Timmy. The Murder Police Podcast is hosted by Wendy and David Lyons and was created to honor the lives of crime victims, so their names are never forgotten. It is produced, recorded and edited by David Lyons. The Murder Police Podcast can be found on your favorite Apple or Android podcast platform Thank you where you can purchase a huge variety of Murder Police podcast swag. We are also on Facebook, instagram and YouTube, which is closed caption for those that are hearing impaired. Just search for the Murder Police podcast and you will find us. If you have enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe for more and give us five stars and a written review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you download your podcasts. Make sure you set your player to automatically download new episodes so you get the new ones as soon as they drop, and please tell your friends.
Wendy Lyons:Lock it down, Judy.
