California student Julie Kibuishi is found dead in the bed of her friend, Sam Herr, a decorated war hero. But Sam is nowhere to be found. As police hunt for their prime suspect, they’ll find this case is far more complicated than it first appeared. -Curtain Call, The Perfect Murder (S3,E13)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
Full Episode: A beautiful, vibrant young woman fell to her death from a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Initially, investigators thought it was just a terrible accident. But after a closer forensic examination of photographs taken at the scene, police had a very different story of what had happened. -The Financial Downfall, Forensic Files (S9, E12)
Name: Virginia Reardon, Billie Joe McGinnis Occupation: Reardon was a Retired Hospital Worker; McGinnis-Unknown Pathology: Conspiracy, Premeditated Murder, First Degree Murder Dates: April 2, 1987 Location:Big Sur, California (Central Coast) Motive: Greed, Financial Gain, Life Insurance Money Victims: Deanna Hubbard Wild (son’s wife) M.O.: Purchased Life Insurance Policy, Pushed off Cliff Next Day, Claimed Accident Conviction: Reardon Sentenced to Life, No Parole Status: McGinnis Dead in 1991, Reardon Dead in 2011 Appearance: Financial Downfall (Forensic Files), Vicious Vixens (Deadly Women)
Investigation Discovery:
ID Go: Cross these deadly vixens at your own risk. An English beauty spars with her boyfriend, a middle-aged woman sacrifices lives for money, and a couple of game players lure an innocent man into a deadly trap: these women will certainly fight to the death. -Vicious Vixens, Deadly Women (S7, E5)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
Preview: Seeking freedom from his controlling wife, Dennis Hawley begins seeing drug-addicted prostitute Brandita Taliano and supporting her financially. In 1993, when Joan receives an inheritance and makes plans to divorce, Dennis, fearing financial ruin, enlists his lover to help murder his wife. -Second Best, Deadly Women (S8, E10)
Air Force retiree Dennis Dawley, 61, with the help of prostitute and mistress, Brandita Taliano, bludgeoned to death his wife Joan Dawley of 35 years for financial gain in Van Nuys, California. Joan wanted a divorce and Dennis and Brandita wanted her inheritance money. The 1991 case went cold for years until DNA technology under Joan’s fingernails yielded a match to Brandita Taliano. Both Dennis and Brandita were charged with murder, conspiracy & solicitation and faced the death penalty. On April 15, 1997, a California jury sentenced Dawley and Taliano to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The pair were spared the death penalty because they didn’t have any prior violent felony records and the jury heard the emotional pleas from Dawley’s daughters.
Investigation Discovery:
Being the other woman’ is a lonely life. Some turn rejection into rage. A call girl craved the high life, a teen mom eradicated her rival, and a lesbian love affair ripped a family apart. These Deadly Women refused to play Second Best’. -Second Best, Deadly Women (S8, E10)
In suburban California, an intruder brutally attacks and kills Joan Dawley. As the Dawley family grieves, it’s up to LAPD detectives to crack the case. Secret home movies uncover a shocking tale of deceit, and a monster lurking behind the scenes. -Stages of Grief, American Monster (S3, E1)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
Virginia Reardon, 55, and Billie Joe McGinnis, 52, pushed Navy spouse and roommate Deanna Hubbard Wild, 20, off a 400 foot cliff at Big Sur in California on April 2, 1987. Deanna was living with her husband’s parents while he was at sea with the U.S. Navy. The motive was life insurance and Virginia had a string of insurance claims she cashed in on including Deanna’s death. The couple lured Deanna to the location under the guise of sight seeing, drugged her at lunch, and then it appears Billi Joe pushed her off the cliff. In the meantime, Virginia Reardon is taking pictures the entire time; investigators theorized she wanted a trophy of the homicide. After Deanna’s mother, Bobbie Roberts, found out her daughter was dead, she questioned the accidental ruling. She hired her own private investigator and attorney and they learned that Virginia Reardon had purchased a $35,000 life insurance policy the day before Deanna’s death. Reardon and McGinnis were arrested in 1989 for the murder of Deanna Wild. In 1991, Billi Joe McGinnis was charged with first degree murder but died from complications from pneumonia before his trial started. Virginia was charged and convicted on March 2, 1992 of first degree murder for financial gain. She was sentenced to life in prison, no parole. Virginia Reardon died while serving out her sentence on June 25, 2011.
One of the infamous photos taken before the murder. Investigators believe in this photo Deanna Wild was feeling the effects of the drugs she was given to make her vulnerable.
Forensic Files:
A beautiful, vibrant young woman fell to her death from a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Initially, investigators thought it was just a terrible accident. But after a closer forensic examination of photographs taken at the scene, police had a very different story of what had happened. -The Financial Downfall, Forensic Files (S9,E12)
Investigation Discovery:
ID Go: Cross these deadly vixens at your own risk. An English beauty spars with her boyfriend, a middle-aged woman sacrifices lives for money, and a couple of game players lure an innocent man into a deadly trap: these women will certainly fight to the death. -Vicious Vixens, Deadly Women (S7, E5)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $3.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict. Download the ID Go app or purchase ID True Crime Files & binge away.
Jay Arneson, U.S. Army Veteran (photo courtesy of Find a Grave)
“Iva Kroeger was a housewife with dreams of owning her own business, and took over her friend Mildred Arneson’s motel in Santa Rosa, California. Iva murdered Mildred and buried the body in her basement, then claimed Mildred moved to Brazil and left her the motel. Shortly afterward, she also murdered Mildred’s husband, Jay. Iva and her husband Ralph, whose role in the murders is unknown, were both convicted of first degree murder. Ralph died in prison, and Iva was released after serving 13 years.”
Dates: December 15, 1961, January 1962, August 20, 1962 Location: Santa Rosa, California and San Franciso, California Offenders: Iva Kroeger & Ralph Kroeger Victims: Mildred Arneson (motel owner), Jay Arneson (68 y.o. disabled Army veteran) Motive: Greed, money Pathology: Murder by strangulation, dug a hole in the basement of her San Franciso home, and buried two victims Disposition: Iva Kroeger sentenced to death for 2 counts of first degree murder, later changed to life imprisonment with parole, served 13 years; Ralph Kroeger convicted of 2 counts of first degree murder on March 26, 1963, sentenced to life in prison Status: Iva Kroeger paroled in 1974, deceased in 2000; Ralph Kroeger died in prison Red Flags: Claims she fled an abusive marriage, dutiful wife to new husband Ralph Kroeger, kept everything neat & clean, engaging personality, sweet, kind, and caring but it was a front, obsession with nursing, worked in nursing homes with the vulnerable, first arrest was for impersonating a nurse, pulled a gun on a repairman because she didn’t want to pay her bill, stole $1,400 from a nursing home in San Jose in 1954, used aliases in various scams, master of the sob story, faked a limp, told people she had cancer, claimed she was crippled in a streetcar accident, said she was going blind, kidnapped her own son’s two children & then abandoned them on the streets of Oakland, California, stole $8,000 from a joint account with husband Ralph Kroeger, quoted as saying “If you act crazy, you can get away with anything because people will think you are eccentric,” during murder trial, claimed to be the mother of God, sang, threw things and constantly interrupted the witnesses and judge, psychiatrists testified that she was sane, but deceitful and manipulative, arrested in 1985 for threatening a man with a gun in Florida, two stolen nurses IDs found in her possession, wanted the life Mildred had, strangled her victims, abuser, user, strong desire not to pay for anything, psychopath but not always cool, calm and collected, lied constantly with complete conviction, won’t admit to any wrongdoing, and police record going back to 1945
Naughty by Monte Schulz (Book):
This crime noir novel, set in the 1950s, was inspired by the real life story of Iva Kroeger and her husband, indicted for the murders of Mildred and Jay Arneson in 1962. -Monte Schulz, Mr. Media Interviews By Bob Andelman
Investigation Discovery:
Selfish women will sometimes sell their souls to the devil to get what they want. A scorned lover weaves a web of lies, a teenage Goth orders a reign of terror, and a gold-digger buries secrets in her basement. -Souls of Stone, Deadly Women (S7, E18)
Editor’s note: With a cable subscription, you can download the free ID Go app and watch all of the Investigation Discovery programming at your convenience. And for those who do not have cable, you can watch “unlocked” episodes on the ID Go app including the latest premieres. Download the ID Go app and binge away. For those who prefer commercial free programming during your binge session, Prime Video has an ID channel: ‘True Crime Files by Investigation Discovery” available for $2.99 a month. It’s a compilation of older seasons but totally worth the cost if you are a true crime addict.
MILITARY JUSTICE FOR ALL 