Podbit · Morbid
When Blanche found her husband dead, she called his relatives, her daughters, and her affair partner Raymond Reed before she called an ambulance. The order of those calls is its own kind of confession.
Where this was said
At 36:35 · chapter starts 31:00
By the late 1960s the Taylors' arguments have spilled into the front yard; in one incident James drags Blanche down their driveway on her coat. But the real defining event comes in late September 1973, when James starts suffering what he thinks is flu — swollen glands, headaches, and escalating symptoms that soon include blistering on hands and feet, clumps of hair falling out, and a swelling face. Doctors run tests but James, worried about costs, asks them to stop. On October 2nd, Blanche gives him ice cream for a sore throat; within an hour he is writhing in violent projectile vomiting, describing the sensation of something clawing out of him. Blanche sends her daughter away, makes up the couch, and goes to sleep. In the morning she finds James dead — face blue-purple, hands twisted into claws. Her response: call his family members one by one, then call Raymond Reed and ask him to come over, and finally call an ambulance. His death is ruled a heart attack. Nobody examines the symptoms that preceded it.
James Taylor had a serious heart attack in 1970 after extreme stress from a police roadblock, giving him a pre-existing cardiac history that later masked his suspicious death.
Blanche carried on a near-openly public affair with her Kroger boss Raymond Reed for nearly 10 years before his wife divorced him.
James Taylor told Blanche his throat was too sore to eat dinner. She brought him ice cream. Within an hour he was writhing in agony, describing the feeling of something clawing out of him from the inside. Blanche made up the couch and went to sleep.
James Taylor died at 45 with symptoms — hair loss, blistering, facial swelling — completely inconsistent with the heart attack listed as cause of death.
A man used ChatGPT as a de facto lawyer, sharing self-incriminating details in his chats. When the transcripts were subpoenaed, the judge ruled no attorney-client privilege applied and admitted the chats as evidence against him. AI first passes are useful — treating AI as your counsel is dangerous.
CIA operative Edwin Wilson armed Muammar Gaddafi with 10,000 machine guns and 20 tons of C4 hidden in barrels of mud and flew them to Libya himself. He was sentenced to 52 years and served 12 in solitary. He was also a founder of the same arms network Oliver North contracted for the Contras.
Kim Dotcom's legal nightmare had nothing to do with copyright infringement. He donated to WikiLeaks and Julian Assange — and the US government charged him under RICO statutes, seeking 186 years in prison as payback.
More than a decade after his indictment, the US is still trying to extradite Kim Dotcom from New Zealand — even after he suffered a stroke. He cannot be convinced the authorities are on his side; only the legal process, run by his lawyers, keeps him free.
The illegal wildlife trade and the drug trade aren't just parallel industries — they actively overlap. Smugglers force-fed cocaine to boa constrictors to evade customs, packed drugs beneath layers of live animals in crates with spitting cobras on top, and exploited the chronic under-resourcing of US Fish and Wildlife inspection teams.
Mario Tabraue was sentenced to over 100 years in prison for murder and drug trafficking. He served 12. Nobody — not even the DEA agent who put him there — knows why he got out. That agent, Larry Lovelace, now lives in rural West Virginia with a gun within reach every night, still expecting retaliation.
Anson Wong from Malaysia was the Pablo Escobar of the global reptile trade, supplying rare animals — including Komodo dragons — to buyers across the world. He was caught in a sting, extradited to the US, and served the longest wildlife crime sentence at the time. The animals seized from him went on to stock some of America's biggest zoos.
Zelig Williams landed a role in Hamilton at just 19 while still in college — a rare achievement in a world where most Broadway dreams die young. By 28 he was a veteran ready to mentor the next generation, until he disappeared without a trace on October 3, 2024.
Season 5 of Dateline: Missing in America brings six new unsolved mysteries. The show is explicitly asking listeners to engage — because a detail someone remembers might be the break investigators need.
We use essential and analytics cookies to run Vuci. To understand how the site is used: Privacy Policy.
Install Vuci on your phone
Add it to your home screen for a faster, app-like experience.
Install Vuci on your phone
Tap the Share button, then “Add to Home Screen”.
A new version is available
Reload to get the latest Vuci.