$50,000 stolen from Larson's home
Approximately $50,000 in loose cash was stolen from Larson's home while he and his wife Teresa were at a Christmas party.
Where this was said
The Money Disappears: The Radio Contest, the Robbery, and the End of the Marriage
At 39:00 · chapter starts 37:50
Whatever post-win serenity Michael Larson might have enjoyed was short-lived. A Dayton, Ohio radio station was running a serial-number contest: if the serial number on your dollar bill matched the one the DJ read on air, you won $30,000. Larson's response was characteristic: go big or don't bother [1] — Host "After his win, Larson withdrew $100,000 in $1 bills from five banks to hunt for a winning radio serial number. It didn't work. While he and…" 38:00 . He withdrew $100,000 in singles — requiring five separate bank visits to accumulate that many small bills — and he and Teresa spent weeks sifting through the cash looking for the magic serial number. They didn't find it. Eventually they returned half to the bank. The remaining $50,000 in loose bills was still scattered around the house when, one night, they left for a Christmas party. When they returned, the back door had been kicked in and the money was gone. The robbery was never solved. Larson's response to the theft was revealing: he became deeply paranoid, accusing Teresa of orchestrating or enabling the burglary. He began standing at the foot of the bed at night, staring at her while she slept. Teresa, fearing for her safety, left him. He was, she later reflected, out of her life forever.
The $100,000 in Singles: A Robbery, Paranoia, and the End of a Marriage
After his win, Larson withdrew $100,000 in $1 bills from five banks to hunt for a winning radio serial number. It didn't work. While he and Teresa were at a Christmas party, burglars broke in and stole $50,000 in loose bills. The theft destroyed the marriage — Larson accused Teresa of stealing it, and she feared for her life.
$100,000 in $1 bills withdrawn
After his win, Larson withdrew $100,000 in $1 bills from five different banks to search for matching serial numbers in a radio station contest.
6 months to memorize all board patterns
In a 1994 Good Morning America interview, Larson claimed it took him 6 months to fully memorize all the Press Your Luck prize board patterns.
From Game Show Winner to Pioneer of Internet Fraud
Larson's post-win life was a spiral of increasingly bold fraud. He ran a multi-level marketing shell company called Pleasure Time Incorporated with bogus Native American lottery investments that allegedly defrauded 20,000 people of $3 million. When the SEC finally caught up with the scheme in 1995, it was the agency's first ever serious internet fraud case.
Similar snapshots
Sued for $250B before Uber
Before Uber, Kalanick built a peer-to-peer file-sharing system and was sued for a quarter of a trillion dollars by 33 major media companies.
Arms dealer Edwin Wilson: 52-year sentence
CIA operative Edwin Wilson, part of the illegal arms network used by Oliver North, was sentenced to 52 years for supplying Libya with 10,000 machine guns and 20 tons of C4.
186-year prison sentence sought
US prosecutors sought a 186-year prison sentence for Kim Dotcom, largely because of his financial support for WikiLeaks.
Mario Tabraue sentenced to 100+ years
Mario Tabraue, a central figure in Monsters of God linked to drug trafficking and murder, was sentenced to over 100 years in prison but served only 12 years.
Disappeared October 3, 2024
Zelig Williams disappeared on October 3rd, 2024 after leaving his mother's home in Columbia, South Carolina and has not been seen since.
Season 5 — 6 new unsolved mysteries
Dateline: Missing in America Season 5 features six new unsolved missing-persons mysteries, hoping a listener may hold a crucial clue.
Strickland got 2 felony GBI charges
At a high school party, Strickland broke one victim's nose, jaw, and knocked out teeth requiring multiple reconstructive surgeries, resulting in two felony GBI charges.
55 years unsolved
Joyce LePage's murder has remained unsolved for 55 years despite active investigation from the start.
Mark's mental institution history
Joyce's own letter revealed that Mark Wadley had once stayed at a mental institution for trying to strangle people — a detail investigators apparently never followed up on.
