https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/secret-society-history-and-mysteries--7194048
Each episode examines secret societies through documented history, unexplained connections and the mysteries that still surround their influence. The focus stays on what is known, what remains disputed and why certain organizations continue to fascinate people long after their most secretive eras have passed. If so much was deliberately kept from public view, how much of the story are we still missing?]]>enHistory© 2026 OBOMEDIA Creatorshttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/97a0a1b3784d3838e266259cadbe4aa3.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/secret-society-history-and-mysteries--7194048Mon, 12 Oct 2026 23:00:35 +0000Creator at ObomediaCreator at Obomediacreators@obomedia.comHave you ever come across a symbol, ritual, or hidden reference and wondered whether it belonged to something much larger than it seemed? A detail can look meaningless until history gives it context—and suddenly the secrecy surrounding it becomes...
Each episode examines secret societies through documented history, unexplained connections and the mysteries that still surround their influence. The focus stays on what is known, what remains disputed and why certain organizations continue to fascinate people long after their most secretive eras have passed. If so much was deliberately kept from public view, how much of the story are we still missing?]]>falsea41e4cb7-adac-541c-902b-e03b49a49f61episodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-barn-of-twenty-three-shoes-how-a-culter-built-a-perfect-stage--73181511
A retired postal worker found twenty-three pairs of shoes in neat rows inside an unlocked barn on September 14, 2011 - toes pointing to the far wall, one pair missing - and no people. What looked like an empty scene was actually the aftermath of a closed world run for nearly two years: a staged life with its own rules and a door only one man could open. How did a theater teacher and trained artists end up living inside someone else's production?

In this episode, we tell how a retired drama teacher named Sandra Underwood and other mid-career artists joined a group called the Meridian Players, paid an $800 enrollment fee for a two-week intensive, and later moved into a rented barn that contained a hidden door. What was the plan behind Dale Allen’s idea of "role permanence theory" and who controlled the exit?

Person: Paul Porter
Date: September 14, 2011
Person: Sandra Underwood
Fee: $800
Document: The Permanent Stage (pamphlet, 2009)

- A retired postal worker, Paul Porter, discovered twenty-three pairs of shoes arranged in two rows inside an unlocked barn on September 14, 2011.
- Sandra Underwood taught drama for sixteen years and was 43 years old by spring 2010 when she joined the Meridian Players.
- Dale Allen published a thirty-page pamphlet titled The Permanent Stage in 2009 outlining "role permanence theory."
- The initial Meridian Players intensive required an $800 enrollment fee and was described as a two-week program in eastern Kentucky.
- The Aldenmere Farm lease was signed in January 2011 with six months of rent paid in advance, in cash, to owner Bette Novak.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181511Mon, 12 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Barn of Twenty-Three Shoes: How a Culter Built a Perfect Stage A retired postal worker found twenty-three pairs of shoes in neat rows inside an unlocked barn on September 14, 2011 - toes pointing to the far wall, one pair missing - and no...
A retired postal worker found twenty-three pairs of shoes in neat rows inside an unlocked barn on September 14, 2011 - toes pointing to the far wall, one pair missing - and no people. What looked like an empty scene was actually the aftermath of a closed world run for nearly two years: a staged life with its own rules and a door only one man could open. How did a theater teacher and trained artists end up living inside someone else's production?

In this episode, we tell how a retired drama teacher named Sandra Underwood and other mid-career artists joined a group called the Meridian Players, paid an $800 enrollment fee for a two-week intensive, and later moved into a rented barn that contained a hidden door. What was the plan behind Dale Allen’s idea of "role permanence theory" and who controlled the exit?

Person: Paul Porter
Date: September 14, 2011
Person: Sandra Underwood
Fee: $800
Document: The Permanent Stage (pamphlet, 2009)

- A retired postal worker, Paul Porter, discovered twenty-three pairs of shoes arranged in two rows inside an unlocked barn on September 14, 2011.
- Sandra Underwood taught drama for sixteen years and was 43 years old by spring 2010 when she joined the Meridian Players.
- Dale Allen published a thirty-page pamphlet titled The Permanent Stage in 2009 outlining "role permanence theory."
- The initial Meridian Players intensive required an $800 enrollment fee and was described as a two-week program in eastern Kentucky.
- The Aldenmere Farm lease was signed in January 2011 with six months of rent paid in advance, in cash, to owner Bette Novak.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1358falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-binder-in-pellen-forest-how-a-ledger-toppled-a-cult-leader--73181510
A dry plastic bag between tree roots in Pellen Forest Forest held 162 handwritten pages stamped "COVENANT OF THE RENEWED MIND - ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE" that became evidence in a case where more than $300,000 moved through nineteen people - but who dropped that binder and why did it survive three days of rain undamaged?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a dog finding the binder on August 14, 2019, through the ledger's arrival at the Garnet County Sheriff's Department, and trace how the records exposed a four-year financial operation; how did a weekly-updated set of binders and signed withdrawal forms become the community's "memory," and what did those pages reveal?

Person: Marie Novak
Date: August 14, 2019
Location: Pellen Forest Forest
Case: Covenant of the Renewed Mind accounts
Event: Binder logged as evidence at Garnet County Sheriff's Department by 11:47 AM

- A golden retriever pulled on her leash at 11:06 AM and found a zippered plastic bag between two exposed tree roots.
- The binder contained exactly 162 handwritten pages and had no name on the cover.
- The inside front page bore the rubber stamp "COVENANT OF THE RENEWED MIND - ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE."
- The trail through Pellen Forest Forest had been only 11 days old at the time the binder was found.
- The financial operation moved more than $300,000 through 19 people over four years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181510Sun, 11 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Binder in Pellen Forest: How a Ledger Toppled a Cult Leader A dry plastic bag between tree roots in Pellen Forest Forest held 162 handwritten pages stamped "COVENANT OF THE RENEWED MIND - ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE" that became evidence in a case...
A dry plastic bag between tree roots in Pellen Forest Forest held 162 handwritten pages stamped "COVENANT OF THE RENEWED MIND - ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE" that became evidence in a case where more than $300,000 moved through nineteen people - but who dropped that binder and why did it survive three days of rain undamaged?

In this episode, we follow the timeline from a dog finding the binder on August 14, 2019, through the ledger's arrival at the Garnet County Sheriff's Department, and trace how the records exposed a four-year financial operation; how did a weekly-updated set of binders and signed withdrawal forms become the community's "memory," and what did those pages reveal?

Person: Marie Novak
Date: August 14, 2019
Location: Pellen Forest Forest
Case: Covenant of the Renewed Mind accounts
Event: Binder logged as evidence at Garnet County Sheriff's Department by 11:47 AM

- A golden retriever pulled on her leash at 11:06 AM and found a zippered plastic bag between two exposed tree roots.
- The binder contained exactly 162 handwritten pages and had no name on the cover.
- The inside front page bore the rubber stamp "COVENANT OF THE RENEWED MIND - ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE."
- The trail through Pellen Forest Forest had been only 11 days old at the time the binder was found.
- The financial operation moved more than $300,000 through 19 people over four years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1453falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-notebook-that-exposed-a-false-shepherd-and-a-stolen-life--73181509
Fear that someone you trusted could be inventing a whole life to take your pain - a dry notebook found wedged in a willow on July 12, 2019 contained 61 handwritten pages of names, dates, and asset transfers that a fisherman recognized as deliberate. Who wrote it, why it survived impossible water, and what it revealed about a man who arrived at a grief group with lies - and a converted barn called the Shepherd's Frequency - are questions this episode follows to their edge.

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the notebook's discovery to the story it unlocked: a retired teacher named Frank Graham, a newcomer named Melvin D. Larsen who claimed false credentials, and the group dynamics that let a stranger gain influence. How did a single paper record upend a life and a community?

Person: Grant Dixon
Person: Frank Graham
Person: Melvin D. Larsen
Date: July 12, 2019
Location: Morrow River

- The notebook contained sixty-one handwritten pages with names, dates, and asset transfers.
- Grant Dixon found the notebook at 6:20 a.m. wedged in a willow fork at the outside bend of the Morrow River.
- Eleven notebooks had been thrown from the footbridge upstream roughly six hours earlier while the river was running high.
- Frank Graham was fifty-four years old and had taught shop class for twenty-six years in Carver Falls, Indiana before retiring.
- Melvin D. Larsen arrived at the Carver Falls grief group in September 2017 and within two months invited six members to his property on twelve acres he called the Shepherd's Frequency.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181509Sat, 10 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Notebook That Exposed a False Shepherd and a Stolen Life Fear that someone you trusted could be inventing a whole life to take your pain - a dry notebook found wedged in a willow on July 12, 2019 contained 61 handwritten pages of names, dates,...
Fear that someone you trusted could be inventing a whole life to take your pain - a dry notebook found wedged in a willow on July 12, 2019 contained 61 handwritten pages of names, dates, and asset transfers that a fisherman recognized as deliberate. Who wrote it, why it survived impossible water, and what it revealed about a man who arrived at a grief group with lies - and a converted barn called the Shepherd's Frequency - are questions this episode follows to their edge.

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events from the notebook's discovery to the story it unlocked: a retired teacher named Frank Graham, a newcomer named Melvin D. Larsen who claimed false credentials, and the group dynamics that let a stranger gain influence. How did a single paper record upend a life and a community?

Person: Grant Dixon
Person: Frank Graham
Person: Melvin D. Larsen
Date: July 12, 2019
Location: Morrow River

- The notebook contained sixty-one handwritten pages with names, dates, and asset transfers.
- Grant Dixon found the notebook at 6:20 a.m. wedged in a willow fork at the outside bend of the Morrow River.
- Eleven notebooks had been thrown from the footbridge upstream roughly six hours earlier while the river was running high.
- Frank Graham was fifty-four years old and had taught shop class for twenty-six years in Carver Falls, Indiana before retiring.
- Melvin D. Larsen arrived at the Carver Falls grief group in September 2017 and within two months invited six members to his property on twelve acres he called the Shepherd's Frequency.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1342falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-61-empty-chairs-why-they-left-a-cake-and-vanished--73181508
Sixty-one chairs in a perfect circle, a white-tableclothed cake with blue frosting, and four words on the box: "We Were Wrong. We're Still Here." Who organized a gathering that left no footprints, no trash, rented chairs returned clean, and then disappeared from a soft Indiana clearing without a trace?

In this episode, we follow how one small recruitment at a copy counter led to a rural communal compound, the rise of a leader named John Jensen, and the unanswered question of what the Gathered Threshold was waiting for - and what happened after their promised "correction" on November 14, 2008.

Person: Denise Pruitt
Person: John Jensen
Event: Gathering of sixty-one members at Mercer place
Location: Cutter's Hollow, Indiana
Date: November 14, 2008

- 61 folding chairs arranged in a perfect inward-facing circle were found in a clearing on a Tuesday morning in June 2009.
- A folding table with an ironed white tablecloth weighted by river stones held a birthday cake in a clear plastic bakery box with blue frosting.
- The cake bore four words in careful script: "We Were Wrong. We're Still Here."
- The 61 chairs were rented from an event supply company in French Lick and were returned clean the following day.
- The cake was purchased two days earlier at a grocery store in Marengo, 17 miles away.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181508Fri, 09 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe 61 Empty Chairs: Why They Left a Cake and Vanished Sixty-one chairs in a perfect circle, a white-tableclothed cake with blue frosting, and four words on the box: "We Were Wrong. We're Still Here." Who organized a gathering that left no...
Sixty-one chairs in a perfect circle, a white-tableclothed cake with blue frosting, and four words on the box: "We Were Wrong. We're Still Here." Who organized a gathering that left no footprints, no trash, rented chairs returned clean, and then disappeared from a soft Indiana clearing without a trace?

In this episode, we follow how one small recruitment at a copy counter led to a rural communal compound, the rise of a leader named John Jensen, and the unanswered question of what the Gathered Threshold was waiting for - and what happened after their promised "correction" on November 14, 2008.

Person: Denise Pruitt
Person: John Jensen
Event: Gathering of sixty-one members at Mercer place
Location: Cutter's Hollow, Indiana
Date: November 14, 2008

- 61 folding chairs arranged in a perfect inward-facing circle were found in a clearing on a Tuesday morning in June 2009.
- A folding table with an ironed white tablecloth weighted by river stones held a birthday cake in a clear plastic bakery box with blue frosting.
- The cake bore four words in careful script: "We Were Wrong. We're Still Here."
- The 61 chairs were rented from an event supply company in French Lick and were returned clean the following day.
- The cake was purchased two days earlier at a grocery store in Marengo, 17 miles away.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1351falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/twelve-shoes-on-the-lawn-what-bright-tillage-left-behind--73181507
A rural Indiana driveway held twelve pairs of shoes lined up at the base of garden beds on the morning of May 9, 2019 - no blood, no forced entry, and one pair small enough to belong to a child. The property, linked to a nascent operation called Bright Tillage Associates, traces back to a local farm business and a man who returned home after his father's death - how did a quiet county become a place where people walked away and left their shoes behind?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led from a long-standing family business in Kellerton to the arrival of a stranger with a corporation and a map, and we follow the threads that connect a tidy row of shoes to earlier trusts, covenants, and complaints. What patterns in Alan Cook’s past and the local dynamics of Tate Farm Supply help explain what happened at Bright Tillage?

Person: Dean Larsen
Date: May 9, 2019
Location: Kellerton, Indiana
Person: Jeffrey Tate
Event: Bright Tillage Associates incorporation filed in 2014

- Dean Larsen discovered twelve pairs of shoes arranged in a neat row at the base of twelve garden beds on May 9, 2019.
- One pair of the twelve was a child’s white canvas sneaker with a faded cartoon on the ankle.
- Raymond Tate opened Tate Farm Supply in the early 1980s and ran it for over thirty years until his death in autumn 2012.
- Jeffrey Tate was born around 1981 and returned to Kellerton in 2012 at age thirty-one to run Tate Farm Supply after his father’s death.
- Alan Cook filed incorporation papers for Bright Tillage Associates in 2014 using a Terre Haute post office box as the registered address.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181507Thu, 08 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaTwelve Shoes on the Lawn: What Bright Tillage Left Behind A rural Indiana driveway held twelve pairs of shoes lined up at the base of garden beds on the morning of May 9, 2019 - no blood, no forced entry, and one pair small enough to belong to a...
A rural Indiana driveway held twelve pairs of shoes lined up at the base of garden beds on the morning of May 9, 2019 - no blood, no forced entry, and one pair small enough to belong to a child. The property, linked to a nascent operation called Bright Tillage Associates, traces back to a local farm business and a man who returned home after his father's death - how did a quiet county become a place where people walked away and left their shoes behind?

In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led from a long-standing family business in Kellerton to the arrival of a stranger with a corporation and a map, and we follow the threads that connect a tidy row of shoes to earlier trusts, covenants, and complaints. What patterns in Alan Cook’s past and the local dynamics of Tate Farm Supply help explain what happened at Bright Tillage?

Person: Dean Larsen
Date: May 9, 2019
Location: Kellerton, Indiana
Person: Jeffrey Tate
Event: Bright Tillage Associates incorporation filed in 2014

- Dean Larsen discovered twelve pairs of shoes arranged in a neat row at the base of twelve garden beds on May 9, 2019.
- One pair of the twelve was a child’s white canvas sneaker with a faded cartoon on the ankle.
- Raymond Tate opened Tate Farm Supply in the early 1980s and ran it for over thirty years until his death in autumn 2012.
- Jeffrey Tate was born around 1981 and returned to Kellerton in 2012 at age thirty-one to run Tate Farm Supply after his father’s death.
- Alan Cook filed incorporation papers for Bright Tillage Associates in 2014 using a Terre Haute post office box as the registered address.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1335falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/eleven-shoes-on-a-ridge-how-halcyon-springs-hid-a-cult-s-fraud--73181505
A single photograph - eleven pairs of shoes arranged in a line, toes pointed toward an eight-foot drop - sat on a limestone ridge for hours with no bodies below and no signs of struggle. That image unlocked a two-and-a-half-year story of a wellness retreat where people signed away savings, gave powers of attorney, and never left; how did a ritual of removing shoes become proof of a larger deception?

In this episode, we tell what happened at Halcyon Springs Wellness Retreat from the first photograph to the raid, following one participant’s journey and the program’s staged fees and protocols to ask: what turned a fourteen-day promise into years of captivity?

Person: Sharon Zimmerman
Date: April 14, 2019
Location: Halcyon Springs Wellness Retreat, Millard County, Texas
Event: Raid where 21 people were found on the property
Topic: Still Water Program and financial transfers to Clarity Ground Holdings

- A birdwatcher named Troy Simmons took 47 photographs of eleven pairs of shoes at 7:51 AM on April 14, 2019.
- Sharon Zimmerman arrived in June 2017 expecting a 14-day stay and remained for 22 months.
- Sharon transferred $63,000 from her savings to Clarity Ground Holdings by autumn 2017.
- The Still Water Program staged progression: 14-day initial, 30-day Deepening, and 90-day Rooting phases with separate fees.
- Fourteen of the twenty-one people found during the April 2019 raid had exceeded their original enrolled program length.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181505Wed, 07 Oct 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaEleven Shoes on a Ridge: How Halcyon Springs Hid a Cult's Fraud A single photograph - eleven pairs of shoes arranged in a line, toes pointed toward an eight-foot drop - sat on a limestone ridge for hours with no bodies below and no signs of...
A single photograph - eleven pairs of shoes arranged in a line, toes pointed toward an eight-foot drop - sat on a limestone ridge for hours with no bodies below and no signs of struggle. That image unlocked a two-and-a-half-year story of a wellness retreat where people signed away savings, gave powers of attorney, and never left; how did a ritual of removing shoes become proof of a larger deception?

In this episode, we tell what happened at Halcyon Springs Wellness Retreat from the first photograph to the raid, following one participant’s journey and the program’s staged fees and protocols to ask: what turned a fourteen-day promise into years of captivity?

Person: Sharon Zimmerman
Date: April 14, 2019
Location: Halcyon Springs Wellness Retreat, Millard County, Texas
Event: Raid where 21 people were found on the property
Topic: Still Water Program and financial transfers to Clarity Ground Holdings

- A birdwatcher named Troy Simmons took 47 photographs of eleven pairs of shoes at 7:51 AM on April 14, 2019.
- Sharon Zimmerman arrived in June 2017 expecting a 14-day stay and remained for 22 months.
- Sharon transferred $63,000 from her savings to Clarity Ground Holdings by autumn 2017.
- The Still Water Program staged progression: 14-day initial, 30-day Deepening, and 90-day Rooting phases with separate fees.
- Fourteen of the twenty-one people found during the April 2019 raid had exceeded their original enrolled program length.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1549falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-photograph-on-the-fence-how-40-people-vanished-into-faith--73181503
A dry, laminated photograph zip-tied to a fence post led deputies to a 160-acre farm where forty people had cut ties with the outside world-no phones, no bank accounts, and one man listed as sole signatory for the trust. How did a soft-spoken stranger convince 31 adults and 9 children to abandon town life and follow him into silence?

In this episode, we trace the timeline from the photo found by a paperboy on March 14, 2009, back to a man who arrived in fall 2006 and the months of control that followed, asking how the group's rules, finances, and sudden move built the conditions for disappearance.

Person: William Smith
Date: March 14, 2009
Location: Pawnee County, Kansas
Event: Photograph discovered on fence post
Case: Congregation of Latter Rain relocation

- The photograph was half-submerged in three inches of snowmelt and was bone dry when found.
- Harvey Padgett arrived in Dearing in fall 2006 and was 44 years old when he started attending Crossroads Fellowship.
- By August 2007, 31 adults and 9 children formed an inner circle around Padgett.
- The group moved onto 160 acres of farmland held by an agent named Dennis Farr under the Latter Rain Agricultural Trust.
- $42,000 was withdrawn from the Latter Rain Agricultural Trust in under six weeks beginning late January 2009.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181503Tue, 06 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Photograph on the Fence: How 40 People Vanished into Faith A dry, laminated photograph zip-tied to a fence post led deputies to a 160-acre farm where forty people had cut ties with the outside world-no phones, no bank accounts, and one man...
A dry, laminated photograph zip-tied to a fence post led deputies to a 160-acre farm where forty people had cut ties with the outside world-no phones, no bank accounts, and one man listed as sole signatory for the trust. How did a soft-spoken stranger convince 31 adults and 9 children to abandon town life and follow him into silence?

In this episode, we trace the timeline from the photo found by a paperboy on March 14, 2009, back to a man who arrived in fall 2006 and the months of control that followed, asking how the group's rules, finances, and sudden move built the conditions for disappearance.

Person: William Smith
Date: March 14, 2009
Location: Pawnee County, Kansas
Event: Photograph discovered on fence post
Case: Congregation of Latter Rain relocation

- The photograph was half-submerged in three inches of snowmelt and was bone dry when found.
- Harvey Padgett arrived in Dearing in fall 2006 and was 44 years old when he started attending Crossroads Fellowship.
- By August 2007, 31 adults and 9 children formed an inner circle around Padgett.
- The group moved onto 160 acres of farmland held by an agent named Dennis Farr under the Latter Rain Agricultural Trust.
- $42,000 was withdrawn from the Latter Rain Agricultural Trust in under six weeks beginning late January 2009.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1431falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-barn-red-stool-how-a-coach-hid-two-graves-in-plain-sight--73181502
A single barn-red step-stool, warm to the touch and painted with the words "I AM ENOUGH," sat in an untrampled ditch on February 11, 2019 - a clue that opened a missing-persons file and connected two vanished women to the same coach. How did a purported behavioral coach with no valid credentials build a group where letters were intercepted, sleep was regimented, and two lives disappeared into the Wellspring Circle?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the stool in the culvert to the inner rules of the Wellspring Circle and the coach's prior pattern in another county, asking how control, small rituals, and a borrowed authority can obscure violence until it's discovered.

Person: Janet Burke
Date: February 11, 2019
Location: Elmhurst Business Park service road
Status: Missing (last seen February 9, 2019)
Group: Wellspring Circle (core cohort founded by Carl Wells)

- The stool was found before 5:00 AM on February 11, 2019 and the snow around it was unbroken for 40 feet in every direction.
- The stool's top was painted with the phrase "I AM ENOUGH" and was forensically warm, consistent with storage in a heated space within the previous 90 minutes.
- Janet Burke, age 48, had worked 11 years as an office manager and volunteered weekly at the Mercer Street food pantry for four years; her last volunteer shift was January 17, 2019.
- Carl Wells charged $60 per session, claimed more than two decades of training, but had withdrawn after one semester from a counseling program in 1994 and held no Ohio license or verifiable certification.
- Janet joined Wellspring in November 2017, was invited to the core cohort in January 2018, and spent 14 months in that inner group before disappearing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181502Mon, 05 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe Barn‑Red Stool: How a Coach Hid Two Graves in Plain Sight A single barn-red step-stool, warm to the touch and painted with the words "I AM ENOUGH," sat in an untrampled ditch on February 11, 2019 - a clue that opened a missing-persons file and...
A single barn-red step-stool, warm to the touch and painted with the words "I AM ENOUGH," sat in an untrampled ditch on February 11, 2019 - a clue that opened a missing-persons file and connected two vanished women to the same coach. How did a purported behavioral coach with no valid credentials build a group where letters were intercepted, sleep was regimented, and two lives disappeared into the Wellspring Circle?

In this episode, we lay out the sequence of events from the stool in the culvert to the inner rules of the Wellspring Circle and the coach's prior pattern in another county, asking how control, small rituals, and a borrowed authority can obscure violence until it's discovered.

Person: Janet Burke
Date: February 11, 2019
Location: Elmhurst Business Park service road
Status: Missing (last seen February 9, 2019)
Group: Wellspring Circle (core cohort founded by Carl Wells)

- The stool was found before 5:00 AM on February 11, 2019 and the snow around it was unbroken for 40 feet in every direction.
- The stool's top was painted with the phrase "I AM ENOUGH" and was forensically warm, consistent with storage in a heated space within the previous 90 minutes.
- Janet Burke, age 48, had worked 11 years as an office manager and volunteered weekly at the Mercer Street food pantry for four years; her last volunteer shift was January 17, 2019.
- Carl Wells charged $60 per session, claimed more than two decades of training, but had withdrawn after one semester from a counseling program in 1994 and held no Ohio license or verifiable certification.
- Janet joined Wellspring in November 2017, was invited to the core cohort in January 2018, and spent 14 months in that inner group before disappearing.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1388falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-shoes-had-been-there-since-the-previous-morning--73181501
Cold and deliberate: forty-one pairs of shoes left outside a barn in near-freezing air, spaced about eight inches apart, while forty-one barefoot people slept inside - one child among them. What did those precisely arranged shoes mean, and how did they point to a man presenting credentials from an institution that does not exist?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a utility lineman finding the shoes at Sutter Ranch to how members like Diane Keller came to give their life savings and strip away ordinary comforts. We trace the seminars, the language of "biological debt," and earlier complaints that hint at a pattern - but why did so many end up barefoot in a barn?

Person: David Morris
Location: Sutter Ranch, east of Drover, New Mexico
Date: third week of January
Person: Diane Keller
Topic: biological debt

- Forty-one pairs of shoes were arranged outside a barn with gaps of roughly eight inches between each pair.
- The temperature was twenty-two degrees the morning the shoes were discovered.
- There were forty-one people inside the barn; most were coherent and one was a child.
- Diane Keller paid $11,000 - her entire savings - and later had no cash and had not spoken to her sister for six weeks.
- In Harlan County, Kentucky, twelve people had contributed roughly $40,000 to a program using the phrase "biological debt" six years earlier.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181501Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe shoes had been there since the previous morning Cold and deliberate: forty-one pairs of shoes left outside a barn in near-freezing air, spaced about eight inches apart, while forty-one barefoot people slept inside - one child among them. What...
Cold and deliberate: forty-one pairs of shoes left outside a barn in near-freezing air, spaced about eight inches apart, while forty-one barefoot people slept inside - one child among them. What did those precisely arranged shoes mean, and how did they point to a man presenting credentials from an institution that does not exist?

In this episode, we follow the sequence of events from a utility lineman finding the shoes at Sutter Ranch to how members like Diane Keller came to give their life savings and strip away ordinary comforts. We trace the seminars, the language of "biological debt," and earlier complaints that hint at a pattern - but why did so many end up barefoot in a barn?

Person: David Morris
Location: Sutter Ranch, east of Drover, New Mexico
Date: third week of January
Person: Diane Keller
Topic: biological debt

- Forty-one pairs of shoes were arranged outside a barn with gaps of roughly eight inches between each pair.
- The temperature was twenty-two degrees the morning the shoes were discovered.
- There were forty-one people inside the barn; most were coherent and one was a child.
- Diane Keller paid $11,000 - her entire savings - and later had no cash and had not spoken to her sister for six weeks.
- In Harlan County, Kentucky, twelve people had contributed roughly $40,000 to a program using the phrase "biological debt" six years earlier.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1379falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-nailed-the-schedule-to-the-fence-why-they-never-left-pinebrook--73181500
The rusted chain-link fence held a laminated daily schedule - suns and clip‑art canoes - nailed there six days after the county ordered the property vacated; who put it up and why they wanted the public to know the routine still ran is the question that starts this episode. This is a story of a woman who left her ordinary life in stages, the leader who presented credentials that did not exist, and a schedule that refused to die - what did that schedule mean to those inside and outside the gate?

In this episode, we follow the path from a community information session to life inside Pinebrook Family Camp, detailing the people, the structure, and the moment the fence revealed that something was unresolved. How did routine, authority, and gradual surrender shape what happened at Pinebrook?

Person: Angela Dempsey
Date: December 14, 2019
Person: Heather McCarthy
Person: Michelle Barrett

- Angela Dempsey found and photographed a laminated daily schedule nailed inside the fence six days after the county-ordered vacation of the property.
- Heather McCarthy lived at Pinebrook for nearly six years and was 52 when she left.
- Michelle Barrett purchased Pinebrook Family Camp the previous spring for $212,000.
- Barrett claimed credentials as a licensed family therapist and certified wilderness educator; the Ohio therapist certificate number she used does not exist and the wilderness organization had dissolved in 2008.
- Non-counselor members at Pinebrook paid $800 per month for housing, meals, and program while counselors paid nothing and provided labor.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181500Sat, 03 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Nailed the Schedule to the Fence - Why They Never Left Pinebrook The rusted chain-link fence held a laminated daily schedule - suns and clip‑art canoes - nailed there six days after the county ordered the property vacated; who put it up and why...
The rusted chain-link fence held a laminated daily schedule - suns and clip‑art canoes - nailed there six days after the county ordered the property vacated; who put it up and why they wanted the public to know the routine still ran is the question that starts this episode. This is a story of a woman who left her ordinary life in stages, the leader who presented credentials that did not exist, and a schedule that refused to die - what did that schedule mean to those inside and outside the gate?

In this episode, we follow the path from a community information session to life inside Pinebrook Family Camp, detailing the people, the structure, and the moment the fence revealed that something was unresolved. How did routine, authority, and gradual surrender shape what happened at Pinebrook?

Person: Angela Dempsey
Date: December 14, 2019
Person: Heather McCarthy
Person: Michelle Barrett

- Angela Dempsey found and photographed a laminated daily schedule nailed inside the fence six days after the county-ordered vacation of the property.
- Heather McCarthy lived at Pinebrook for nearly six years and was 52 when she left.
- Michelle Barrett purchased Pinebrook Family Camp the previous spring for $212,000.
- Barrett claimed credentials as a licensed family therapist and certified wilderness educator; the Ohio therapist certificate number she used does not exist and the wilderness organization had dissolved in 2008.
- Non-counselor members at Pinebrook paid $800 per month for housing, meals, and program while counselors paid nothing and provided labor.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1369falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-had-done-this-route-dozens-of-times--73181499
A clear snow globe with a tiny woman in a red coat sat upright on a utility meter on November 7, 2019, and wrapped around its base was a handwritten list of eleven names and dollar amounts totaling more than $1.4 million. How did a meter reader’s routine stop a scheme that had turned a co-housing promise into a decades-long pattern of false identities, sham invoices, and disappearing equity?

In this episode, we trace the route from that snow globe to Sycamore Commons, examine Tammy Thorpe’s incremental “Living Charter” revisions and the Linwood Asset Group transfers, and show how one found document helped unravel a sustained fraud without spoiling the courtroom outcome.

Person: Christine Peterson
Date: November 7, 2019
Location: Harwick County utility cabinet
Organization: Sycamore Commons
Investigator: Donna Bassett

- April Miller discovered the snow globe on a meter shelf and called the Harwick Sheriff on November 7, 2019.
- The globe’s base held a single Living Charter page and a handwritten list of eleven names with amounts totaling more than $1.4 million.
- Over four years roughly $600,000 moved from the community account to Linwood Asset Group in monthly wire transfers.
- Linwood Asset Group was incorporated in 2012 with registered agent Sandra Thorpe listed as Tammy Thorpe’s mother in Clearwater Florida.
- Tammy Thorpe entered a conditional guilty plea and was sentenced to nine years after being convicted on multiple wire fraud and elder exploitation counts.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181499Fri, 02 Oct 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe had done this route dozens of times A clear snow globe with a tiny woman in a red coat sat upright on a utility meter on November 7, 2019, and wrapped around its base was a handwritten list of eleven names and dollar amounts totaling more than...
A clear snow globe with a tiny woman in a red coat sat upright on a utility meter on November 7, 2019, and wrapped around its base was a handwritten list of eleven names and dollar amounts totaling more than $1.4 million. How did a meter reader’s routine stop a scheme that had turned a co-housing promise into a decades-long pattern of false identities, sham invoices, and disappearing equity?

In this episode, we trace the route from that snow globe to Sycamore Commons, examine Tammy Thorpe’s incremental “Living Charter” revisions and the Linwood Asset Group transfers, and show how one found document helped unravel a sustained fraud without spoiling the courtroom outcome.

Person: Christine Peterson
Date: November 7, 2019
Location: Harwick County utility cabinet
Organization: Sycamore Commons
Investigator: Donna Bassett

- April Miller discovered the snow globe on a meter shelf and called the Harwick Sheriff on November 7, 2019.
- The globe’s base held a single Living Charter page and a handwritten list of eleven names with amounts totaling more than $1.4 million.
- Over four years roughly $600,000 moved from the community account to Linwood Asset Group in monthly wire transfers.
- Linwood Asset Group was incorporated in 2012 with registered agent Sandra Thorpe listed as Tammy Thorpe’s mother in Clearwater Florida.
- Tammy Thorpe entered a conditional guilty plea and was sentenced to nine years after being convicted on multiple wire fraud and elder exploitation counts.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1331falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-room-had-been-padlocked-since-the-previous-spring--73181498
A locked basement room in Harwick held 112 face-down envelopes, each stamped with exactly 23 cents over postage and bearing a closed PO box return address - no dust, no forced entry, and hinges untouched. Who arranged those envelopes with ritual precision, and what future did the sender expect that never arrived?

In this episode, we follow the Harwick Resonance Choir's rise and the slow unraveling of a group bound by a founder's language and rituals, focusing on the envelopes that refuse to make sense: who prepared them, why they were mailed to eleven states, and what they reveal about a community that lost a member to the group's demands.

Person: Gordon Allen Petersen
Person: Lori Lane
Date: October 2019
Location: Calvary Lutheran Church, Harwick, Ohio
Event: 112 envelopes found face down in a padlocked basement room

- 112 envelopes were arranged in precise rows inside a four-by-six-foot rectangle.
- Stamps on every envelope were uniformly 23 cents over the current postage rate.
- The envelopes were addressed to recipients in 11 different states.
- An original order of 300 envelopes left 188 uncollected at a Columbus print shop.
- Lori Lane was 27 years old and joined the choir in spring 2016.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181498Thu, 01 Oct 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe room had been padlocked since the previous spring A locked basement room in Harwick held 112 face-down envelopes, each stamped with exactly 23 cents over postage and bearing a closed PO box return address - no dust, no forced entry, and hinges...
A locked basement room in Harwick held 112 face-down envelopes, each stamped with exactly 23 cents over postage and bearing a closed PO box return address - no dust, no forced entry, and hinges untouched. Who arranged those envelopes with ritual precision, and what future did the sender expect that never arrived?

In this episode, we follow the Harwick Resonance Choir's rise and the slow unraveling of a group bound by a founder's language and rituals, focusing on the envelopes that refuse to make sense: who prepared them, why they were mailed to eleven states, and what they reveal about a community that lost a member to the group's demands.

Person: Gordon Allen Petersen
Person: Lori Lane
Date: October 2019
Location: Calvary Lutheran Church, Harwick, Ohio
Event: 112 envelopes found face down in a padlocked basement room

- 112 envelopes were arranged in precise rows inside a four-by-six-foot rectangle.
- Stamps on every envelope were uniformly 23 cents over the current postage rate.
- The envelopes were addressed to recipients in 11 different states.
- An original order of 300 envelopes left 188 uncollected at a Columbus print shop.
- Lori Lane was 27 years old and joined the choir in spring 2016.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1441falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/verified-pure-the-post-stood-alone-at-the-eastern-edge-of-harmon-county--73181497
A laminated card the size of a driver's license hung from a rusted wire on a lone fence post in an open field - a photograph of a man's emaciated torso on one side and the words "Verified Pure" with a cycle status on the other. Found by a dog groomer on September 14, 2011, that single discarded card pulled at a hidden system of fasting, surrendered documentation, and a claimed medical authority built from a borrowed textbook; how did a fabricated credential become the center of sustained bodily control?

In this episode, we trace George Ward's path from Dunbar shop teacher to resident at the Harmon County Institute, the methods Gordon Weaver used to create and enforce cycles, and the investigation that exposed a forged medical identity without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: George Ward
Organization: The Institute / Harmon Restoration Foundation
Location: Pell's Crossing, Harmon County, Tennessee
Date: September 14, 2011
Charge: fraud, practicing medicine without a license, criminal exploitation of an adult

- Jennifer Carter found the laminated "Verified Pure" Cycle Three card on Linden Creek Path on September 14, 2011.
- George Ward sold his house, donated 60 percent of the proceeds to the Institute's "restoration fund," and moved onto the campus by April 2010.
- Members followed a strict schedule with 4:30 AM wakeups, logged meals, and letters reviewed before leaving the property.
- Investigators found a locked cabinet with dozens of surrendered laminated body cards and financial records during warrants executed in late September 2011.
- Gordon Weaver was arrested October 8, 2011, confessed his medical degree was fabricated, and was later sentenced to eleven years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181497Wed, 30 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaVerified Pure. The post stood alone at the eastern edge of Harmon County A laminated card the size of a driver's license hung from a rusted wire on a lone fence post in an open field - a photograph of a man's emaciated torso on one side and the...
A laminated card the size of a driver's license hung from a rusted wire on a lone fence post in an open field - a photograph of a man's emaciated torso on one side and the words "Verified Pure" with a cycle status on the other. Found by a dog groomer on September 14, 2011, that single discarded card pulled at a hidden system of fasting, surrendered documentation, and a claimed medical authority built from a borrowed textbook; how did a fabricated credential become the center of sustained bodily control?

In this episode, we trace George Ward's path from Dunbar shop teacher to resident at the Harmon County Institute, the methods Gordon Weaver used to create and enforce cycles, and the investigation that exposed a forged medical identity without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: George Ward
Organization: The Institute / Harmon Restoration Foundation
Location: Pell's Crossing, Harmon County, Tennessee
Date: September 14, 2011
Charge: fraud, practicing medicine without a license, criminal exploitation of an adult

- Jennifer Carter found the laminated "Verified Pure" Cycle Three card on Linden Creek Path on September 14, 2011.
- George Ward sold his house, donated 60 percent of the proceeds to the Institute's "restoration fund," and moved onto the campus by April 2010.
- Members followed a strict schedule with 4:30 AM wakeups, logged meals, and letters reviewed before leaving the property.
- Investigators found a locked cabinet with dozens of surrendered laminated body cards and financial records during warrants executed in late September 2011.
- Gordon Weaver was arrested October 8, 2011, confessed his medical degree was fabricated, and was later sentenced to eleven years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1274falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/someone-had-thrown-it-from-the-dearing-spur-rail-bridge-four-days-earlier--73181496
A waterproof folder sealed with electrical tape and weighted with a coil of steel cable wire snagged on a fisherman’s trotline on August 19, 2014; inside were forty-one handwritten ledger pages, a laminated ID for "Carl Hayes," and a photograph of nineteen people in matching gray coveralls with fists over their hearts. Why would someone carefully seal and throw such a record into the Sable River instead of destroying it, and what did those pages prove about the world built inside a metal-stamping plant on Route 33?

In this episode, we trace how Carl Hayes - using a forged corporate letter and a practiced manner - created the Floor Brotherhood at Velderhoff Industrial Partners, how financial control and isolated routines reshaped lives like Cheryl Hansen’s, and how a sealed folder recovered from a river became the central record in a fraud and unlawful restraint prosecution.

Person: Carl Hayes
Person: Cheryl Hansen
Location: Velderhoff Industrial Partners, Route 33, Caldwell Street house
Date: August 19, 2014 (folder recovered)
Charge/Status: Convicted March 2015; sentence eleven years

- Howard Bowers found the waterproof folder snagged on his trotline on August 19, 2014 and it was dry inside despite being thrown four days earlier.
- Carl Hayes presented a forged corporate letter and posed as a Plant Safety Liaison and worked the night shift at Velderhoff for roughly six weeks before being exposed.
- Hayes established a “mutual stabilization fund” taking 15 percent of each paycheck and controlled the account with no formal loans or paperwork.
- Cheryl Hansen, age 22, contributed about $6,000 over fourteen months and moved into a shared Caldwell Street house with other night-shift workers wearing gray coveralls.
- The ledger bore Hayes’s handwriting and name at the top of every page and the photograph of nineteen people in gray coveralls was entered into evidence and never returned.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181496Tue, 29 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaSomeone had thrown it from the Dearing Spur rail bridge four days earlier A waterproof folder sealed with electrical tape and weighted with a coil of steel cable wire snagged on a fisherman’s trotline on August 19, 2014; inside were forty-one...
A waterproof folder sealed with electrical tape and weighted with a coil of steel cable wire snagged on a fisherman’s trotline on August 19, 2014; inside were forty-one handwritten ledger pages, a laminated ID for "Carl Hayes," and a photograph of nineteen people in matching gray coveralls with fists over their hearts. Why would someone carefully seal and throw such a record into the Sable River instead of destroying it, and what did those pages prove about the world built inside a metal-stamping plant on Route 33?

In this episode, we trace how Carl Hayes - using a forged corporate letter and a practiced manner - created the Floor Brotherhood at Velderhoff Industrial Partners, how financial control and isolated routines reshaped lives like Cheryl Hansen’s, and how a sealed folder recovered from a river became the central record in a fraud and unlawful restraint prosecution.

Person: Carl Hayes
Person: Cheryl Hansen
Location: Velderhoff Industrial Partners, Route 33, Caldwell Street house
Date: August 19, 2014 (folder recovered)
Charge/Status: Convicted March 2015; sentence eleven years

- Howard Bowers found the waterproof folder snagged on his trotline on August 19, 2014 and it was dry inside despite being thrown four days earlier.
- Carl Hayes presented a forged corporate letter and posed as a Plant Safety Liaison and worked the night shift at Velderhoff for roughly six weeks before being exposed.
- Hayes established a “mutual stabilization fund” taking 15 percent of each paycheck and controlled the account with no formal loans or paperwork.
- Cheryl Hansen, age 22, contributed about $6,000 over fourteen months and moved into a shared Caldwell Street house with other night-shift workers wearing gray coveralls.
- The ledger bore Hayes’s handwriting and name at the top of every page and the photograph of nineteen people in gray coveralls was entered into evidence and never returned.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1296falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/that-instinct-mattered-more-than-she-could-have-known-in-that-moment--73181492
A county surveyor in Caldwell County stopped on a dirt access road on July 14, 2019 and climbed out to inspect what she thought was an abandoned refrigerator in a culvert. It was two milk crates, wrapped in double-layer contractor plastic and sealed with packing tape containing forty-one numbered and dated notebooks spanning five years - a private record left deliberately where rain never reached. Why were those notebooks hidden there and what did they reveal about the group that reshaped a writer's inner life?

In this episode, we trace Amanda Schultz's five years in the Ardent Page collective, the fabricated credentials of its organizer Randy McCarthy, the financial trail through the Ardent Literary Foundation, and the notebooks that became evidence without which the pattern might have stayed hidden.

Person: Amanda Schultz
Group: Ardent Page (literary collective)
Person: Randy McCarthy (also known as Randall McCall)
Date: July 14, 2019
Event: 41 handwritten notebooks recovered from culvert

- Marie Cole found two milk crates wrapped in double-layer contractor plastic sealed with packing tape inside a dry culvert pipe on July 14, 2019.
- The crates contained forty-one numbered and dated composition notebooks documenting March 2014 through June 2019 in near-perfect condition.
- Amanda Schultz, age 38, wrote in secret in a locked bathroom at night while living in the Ardent Page farmhouse and placed the notebooks in the culvert the week before she left.
- Randy McCarthy organized the collective with unverifiable credentials and had registered the Ardent Literary Foundation in 2012 with an account solely in his name that collected member donations.
- McCarthy pleaded guilty in February 2020 to two counts of fraud was sentenced to six years and had stored financial records across multiple rental units he later identified.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181492Mon, 28 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThat instinct mattered more than she could have known in that moment A county surveyor in Caldwell County stopped on a dirt access road on July 14, 2019 and climbed out to inspect what she thought was an abandoned refrigerator in a culvert. It was...
A county surveyor in Caldwell County stopped on a dirt access road on July 14, 2019 and climbed out to inspect what she thought was an abandoned refrigerator in a culvert. It was two milk crates, wrapped in double-layer contractor plastic and sealed with packing tape containing forty-one numbered and dated notebooks spanning five years - a private record left deliberately where rain never reached. Why were those notebooks hidden there and what did they reveal about the group that reshaped a writer's inner life?

In this episode, we trace Amanda Schultz's five years in the Ardent Page collective, the fabricated credentials of its organizer Randy McCarthy, the financial trail through the Ardent Literary Foundation, and the notebooks that became evidence without which the pattern might have stayed hidden.

Person: Amanda Schultz
Group: Ardent Page (literary collective)
Person: Randy McCarthy (also known as Randall McCall)
Date: July 14, 2019
Event: 41 handwritten notebooks recovered from culvert

- Marie Cole found two milk crates wrapped in double-layer contractor plastic sealed with packing tape inside a dry culvert pipe on July 14, 2019.
- The crates contained forty-one numbered and dated composition notebooks documenting March 2014 through June 2019 in near-perfect condition.
- Amanda Schultz, age 38, wrote in secret in a locked bathroom at night while living in the Ardent Page farmhouse and placed the notebooks in the culvert the week before she left.
- Randy McCarthy organized the collective with unverifiable credentials and had registered the Ardent Literary Foundation in 2012 with an account solely in his name that collected member donations.
- McCarthy pleaded guilty in February 2020 to two counts of fraud was sentenced to six years and had stored financial records across multiple rental units he later identified.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1225falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-nearest-road-was-a-quarter-mile-away--73181490
A bakery clamshell cake with six pink candles and purple gel spelling "6" sat against an oak tree forty yards from a padlocked gate - a small, deliberate signal that pulled Sheriff’s deputies to a converted drainage culvert where eleven people including three children had been living underground. Who carried that cake out into the dark, why she walked back beneath the surface, and what it reveals about the structure that kept capable adults from leaving?

In this episode, we trace Meridian Preparedness Collective from a volunteer-fire-station table in August 2016 to an underground shelter on Cutler Mill Road, focusing on Jessica Mills, members like Erin Reed and Paula Hern, the logbook that rated "compliance posture," and the escalation that led to criminal convictions without fully explaining why members stayed.

Person: Jessica Mills
Location: Cutler Mill Road, North Carolina piedmont
Date: cake discovered June 4, 2019
Event: eleven people found living in converted drainage culvert
Status: convictions in spring 2020 (unlawful imprisonment child endangerment fraud)

- Shannon Fleming found the cake against an oak tree at approximately 8:15 AM on June 4, 2019 during a routine septic inspection.
- Jessica Mills incorporated Meridian Preparedness Collective in 2014 and had a notarized affidavit containing fabricated credentials.
- Eleven people including three children lived in a licensed underground shelter built by contractor Pete Schuler with permits filed in 2015.
- Mills kept a logbook that recorded sleep hours caloric intake and a "compliance posture" score from one to five for each member.
- The jury convicted Mills on eleven counts of unlawful imprisonment two counts of child endangerment and one count of criminal fraud after evidence showed more than $200,000 in member contributions deposited into her personal account.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181490Sun, 27 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe nearest road was a quarter mile away A bakery clamshell cake with six pink candles and purple gel spelling "6" sat against an oak tree forty yards from a padlocked gate - a small, deliberate signal that pulled Sheriff’s deputies to a converted...
A bakery clamshell cake with six pink candles and purple gel spelling "6" sat against an oak tree forty yards from a padlocked gate - a small, deliberate signal that pulled Sheriff’s deputies to a converted drainage culvert where eleven people including three children had been living underground. Who carried that cake out into the dark, why she walked back beneath the surface, and what it reveals about the structure that kept capable adults from leaving?

In this episode, we trace Meridian Preparedness Collective from a volunteer-fire-station table in August 2016 to an underground shelter on Cutler Mill Road, focusing on Jessica Mills, members like Erin Reed and Paula Hern, the logbook that rated "compliance posture," and the escalation that led to criminal convictions without fully explaining why members stayed.

Person: Jessica Mills
Location: Cutler Mill Road, North Carolina piedmont
Date: cake discovered June 4, 2019
Event: eleven people found living in converted drainage culvert
Status: convictions in spring 2020 (unlawful imprisonment child endangerment fraud)

- Shannon Fleming found the cake against an oak tree at approximately 8:15 AM on June 4, 2019 during a routine septic inspection.
- Jessica Mills incorporated Meridian Preparedness Collective in 2014 and had a notarized affidavit containing fabricated credentials.
- Eleven people including three children lived in a licensed underground shelter built by contractor Pete Schuler with permits filed in 2015.
- Mills kept a logbook that recorded sleep hours caloric intake and a "compliance posture" score from one to five for each member.
- The jury convicted Mills on eleven counts of unlawful imprisonment two counts of child endangerment and one count of criminal fraud after evidence showed more than $200,000 in member contributions deposited into her personal account.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1281falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-found-a-canvas-bag-sitting-just-above-the-waterline--73181489
A birdwatcher crouched beside a willow root at Cutter Lake and found a soaked canvas bag with eleven perfectly dry binders inside - a detail that pulled a ribbon of deception into the light. Who had driven those binders out to the reservoir the night before and why did the documents inside unravel three years of carefully constructed history and expose an older pattern beneath April Adams's calm demeanor?

In this episode, we trace how April Adams built the Alderton Heritage Society in a Merchant Street Victorian and sold fabricated ancestral confirmations, following Denise Parker from discovery to departure and the investigation that proved the Ledger never existed.

Person: April Adams
Person: Denise Parker
Location: Cutter Lake; Merchant Street house, Fallbrook
Event: binders recovered from a canvas bag
Date: May (discovery); November (sentencing)
Status: Convicted (nine counts wire fraud; two counts financial exploitation)

- Randy Brown discovered the canvas bag on a willow root at Cutter Lake in the second week of May and photographed it before law enforcement arrived.
- The bag was soaked through but contained eleven binders that were completely dry and intact when recovered.
- Denise Parker paid $1,200 for a Confirmation document and later paid $300 monthly while living at the Merchant Street house.
- Forensic archivist Paul Stenger found the same type of anachronistic error in seven of nine recovered Confirmation documents.
- April Adams was sentenced in November on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of financial exploitation and a post-sentencing DNA match linked her to a prior identity theft scheme seven years earlier.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181489Sat, 26 Sep 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at Obomediaand found a canvas bag sitting just above the waterline A birdwatcher crouched beside a willow root at Cutter Lake and found a soaked canvas bag with eleven perfectly dry binders inside - a detail that pulled a ribbon of deception into the light....
A birdwatcher crouched beside a willow root at Cutter Lake and found a soaked canvas bag with eleven perfectly dry binders inside - a detail that pulled a ribbon of deception into the light. Who had driven those binders out to the reservoir the night before and why did the documents inside unravel three years of carefully constructed history and expose an older pattern beneath April Adams's calm demeanor?

In this episode, we trace how April Adams built the Alderton Heritage Society in a Merchant Street Victorian and sold fabricated ancestral confirmations, following Denise Parker from discovery to departure and the investigation that proved the Ledger never existed.

Person: April Adams
Person: Denise Parker
Location: Cutter Lake; Merchant Street house, Fallbrook
Event: binders recovered from a canvas bag
Date: May (discovery); November (sentencing)
Status: Convicted (nine counts wire fraud; two counts financial exploitation)

- Randy Brown discovered the canvas bag on a willow root at Cutter Lake in the second week of May and photographed it before law enforcement arrived.
- The bag was soaked through but contained eleven binders that were completely dry and intact when recovered.
- Denise Parker paid $1,200 for a Confirmation document and later paid $300 monthly while living at the Merchant Street house.
- Forensic archivist Paul Stenger found the same type of anachronistic error in seven of nine recovered Confirmation documents.
- April Adams was sentenced in November on nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of financial exploitation and a post-sentencing DNA match linked her to a prior identity theft scheme seven years earlier.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1261falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-smell-reached-grant-doyle-before-the-light-did--73181487
A sixteen-year-old delivery driver smelled smoke and found the Alderton depot fully involved before sunrise on April 14, 2019, and on a scorched metal shelf eight feet above the floor a laminated FEMA badge for Warren Long remained legible. Why was a credential for a past Willamette Valley flood sitting in a burning warehouse owned by a volunteer disaster-relief nonprofit, and what did that single badge eventually reveal about continuity, deception, and extraction?

In this episode, we trace Continuum Relief Corps from a Bend home-improvement expo in 2015 to the April 2019 arson, following founder Warren Long, logistics lead Larry Becker, treasurer Andrea Cho, and a paper trail of shell companies that shifted more than $300,000 without resolving who Warren Long really was before 2009.

Person: Warren Long (aka Warren Leonard Greer)
Event: Alderton depot fire
Date: April 14, 2019
Location: Fennick Road, Alderton, Oregon
Amount: $300,000+ transferred to Frontline Readiness Partners

- Grant Doyle called 9-1-1 at approximately 6:00 AM on April 14, 2019 after seeing the Alderton depot burning.
- A laminated FEMA badge reading "Warren Long Field Logistics Coordinator" was recovered eight feet above the floor on a metal shelf with a blistered laminate.
- Monthly transfers of $4,000 to $7,000 moved from Continuum's account to Frontline Readiness Partners for four years totaling more than $300,000.
- A cargo van intake form listed "Warren L. Greer" and the Ardent Logistics registration used a Reno post office box that matched a Nevada driver's license photo of Warren Long.
- Warren Long pleaded guilty to arson, wire fraud, and unlawful use of emergency management credentials and was sentenced to nine years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181487Fri, 25 Sep 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe smell reached Grant Doyle before the light did A sixteen-year-old delivery driver smelled smoke and found the Alderton depot fully involved before sunrise on April 14, 2019, and on a scorched metal shelf eight feet above the floor a laminated...
A sixteen-year-old delivery driver smelled smoke and found the Alderton depot fully involved before sunrise on April 14, 2019, and on a scorched metal shelf eight feet above the floor a laminated FEMA badge for Warren Long remained legible. Why was a credential for a past Willamette Valley flood sitting in a burning warehouse owned by a volunteer disaster-relief nonprofit, and what did that single badge eventually reveal about continuity, deception, and extraction?

In this episode, we trace Continuum Relief Corps from a Bend home-improvement expo in 2015 to the April 2019 arson, following founder Warren Long, logistics lead Larry Becker, treasurer Andrea Cho, and a paper trail of shell companies that shifted more than $300,000 without resolving who Warren Long really was before 2009.

Person: Warren Long (aka Warren Leonard Greer)
Event: Alderton depot fire
Date: April 14, 2019
Location: Fennick Road, Alderton, Oregon
Amount: $300,000+ transferred to Frontline Readiness Partners

- Grant Doyle called 9-1-1 at approximately 6:00 AM on April 14, 2019 after seeing the Alderton depot burning.
- A laminated FEMA badge reading "Warren Long Field Logistics Coordinator" was recovered eight feet above the floor on a metal shelf with a blistered laminate.
- Monthly transfers of $4,000 to $7,000 moved from Continuum's account to Frontline Readiness Partners for four years totaling more than $300,000.
- A cargo van intake form listed "Warren L. Greer" and the Ardent Logistics registration used a Reno post office box that matched a Nevada driver's license photo of Warren Long.
- Warren Long pleaded guilty to arson, wire fraud, and unlawful use of emergency management credentials and was sentenced to nine years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1439falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/that-was-the-detail-crystal-pruitt-could-not-explain--73181486
A single brown leather shoe, size ten, placed upright inside a rural mailbox on County Road Seven at 6:20 AM on March 4th was warm to the touch despite an eleven-degree night and eight inches of fresh snow with no footprints nearby. That impossible warmth became the thread that, once pulled, exposed a three-year pattern of financial extraction and psychological control at a facility called Fenwick Recovery Associates. Who was Philip Mason and what did the missing session papers hide?

In this episode, we trace the discovery from Crystal Pruitt’s photograph to the door Mason used, the folder of authorizations left in a storage room, and the missing plain-paper session sheets, outlining how eleven residents’ funds and autonomy were stripped without obvious force.

Person: Philip Mason
Location: Fenwick Recovery Associates, Alderly, Vance County
Date: March 4 (shoe found); March 9 (Kenneth O'Brien arrived)
Amount: nearly $240,000
Status: Convicted on five counts (four financial fraud one criminal exploitation of a vulnerable adult)

- Crystal Pruitt photographed a warm left shoe in a mailbox at 6:20 AM on March 4 after an eleven-degree night and eight inches of snow with no tracks nearby
- The north door that did not appear on Mason’s floor plan had a bent strike plate and was reachable via a shed with a broken padlock
- Investigators found a matching left shoe and a folder of eleven signed financial authorization forms in the storage room off the kitchen
- Eleven residents over three years contributed almost $240,000 through the "community contribution" system that included retirement accounts and disability payments
- The plain-paper session sheets collected over months were never recovered and their contents remain unexplained

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181486Thu, 24 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThat was the detail Crystal Pruitt could not explain A single brown leather shoe, size ten, placed upright inside a rural mailbox on County Road Seven at 6:20 AM on March 4th was warm to the touch despite an eleven-degree night and eight inches of...
A single brown leather shoe, size ten, placed upright inside a rural mailbox on County Road Seven at 6:20 AM on March 4th was warm to the touch despite an eleven-degree night and eight inches of fresh snow with no footprints nearby. That impossible warmth became the thread that, once pulled, exposed a three-year pattern of financial extraction and psychological control at a facility called Fenwick Recovery Associates. Who was Philip Mason and what did the missing session papers hide?

In this episode, we trace the discovery from Crystal Pruitt’s photograph to the door Mason used, the folder of authorizations left in a storage room, and the missing plain-paper session sheets, outlining how eleven residents’ funds and autonomy were stripped without obvious force.

Person: Philip Mason
Location: Fenwick Recovery Associates, Alderly, Vance County
Date: March 4 (shoe found); March 9 (Kenneth O'Brien arrived)
Amount: nearly $240,000
Status: Convicted on five counts (four financial fraud one criminal exploitation of a vulnerable adult)

- Crystal Pruitt photographed a warm left shoe in a mailbox at 6:20 AM on March 4 after an eleven-degree night and eight inches of snow with no tracks nearby
- The north door that did not appear on Mason’s floor plan had a bent strike plate and was reachable via a shed with a broken padlock
- Investigators found a matching left shoe and a folder of eleven signed financial authorization forms in the storage room off the kitchen
- Eleven residents over three years contributed almost $240,000 through the "community contribution" system that included retirement accounts and disability payments
- The plain-paper session sheets collected over months were never recovered and their contents remain unexplained

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1491falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/hunter-had-been-gone-for-at-least-two-days--73181484
A utility lineman found seventy-two artworks arranged in a precise spiral across four thousand square feet of Aldren Mill with a painted portrait at its center and a nameplate that read DR. WARREN COLE, FOUNDER, 1887 - a final tableau left behind after a man vanished and no one claimed to have made it. What does that spiral tell us about who controlled the Forge Collective and why its members surrendered income, copyrights, and contact with the outside world?

In this episode, we follow Scott Hunter and the Forge Collective from the mill’s lease in 2015 to the February 2019 discovery, tracing the Creative Contribution Agreement, the secret portrait, Edward O'Connor’s reporting, and the unraveling that followed without spoiling the moments of deciding and departure.

Person: Scott Hunter
Location: Aldren Mill, Varden, Classen County
Date: February 11-13, 2019
Amount: $460,000
Group: The Forge Collective (twelve resident artists)

- Scott Hunter leased the Aldren Mill in spring 2015 and presented himself as a former professor of visual theory from the Pacific Northwest.
- Each member signed a Creative Contribution Agreement transferring copyright for work produced during residency and for eighteen months after leaving.
- Over thirty-one months Hunter sold members’ work through a Portland dealer and $460,000 flowed into accounts while members were paid $200 monthly.
- Journalist Edward O'Connor filed public records requests in January 2019 that found no university records confirming Hunter’s faculty claims.
- On February 11, 2019 Megan Cooper discovered seventy-two artworks in a precise spiral with Hunter’s painted portrait at the center and a nameplate reading DR. WARREN COLE, FOUNDER, 1887

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181484Wed, 23 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaHunter had been gone for at least two days A utility lineman found seventy-two artworks arranged in a precise spiral across four thousand square feet of Aldren Mill with a painted portrait at its center and a nameplate that read DR. WARREN COLE,...
A utility lineman found seventy-two artworks arranged in a precise spiral across four thousand square feet of Aldren Mill with a painted portrait at its center and a nameplate that read DR. WARREN COLE, FOUNDER, 1887 - a final tableau left behind after a man vanished and no one claimed to have made it. What does that spiral tell us about who controlled the Forge Collective and why its members surrendered income, copyrights, and contact with the outside world?

In this episode, we follow Scott Hunter and the Forge Collective from the mill’s lease in 2015 to the February 2019 discovery, tracing the Creative Contribution Agreement, the secret portrait, Edward O'Connor’s reporting, and the unraveling that followed without spoiling the moments of deciding and departure.

Person: Scott Hunter
Location: Aldren Mill, Varden, Classen County
Date: February 11-13, 2019
Amount: $460,000
Group: The Forge Collective (twelve resident artists)

- Scott Hunter leased the Aldren Mill in spring 2015 and presented himself as a former professor of visual theory from the Pacific Northwest.
- Each member signed a Creative Contribution Agreement transferring copyright for work produced during residency and for eighteen months after leaving.
- Over thirty-one months Hunter sold members’ work through a Portland dealer and $460,000 flowed into accounts while members were paid $200 monthly.
- Journalist Edward O'Connor filed public records requests in January 2019 that found no university records confirming Hunter’s faculty claims.
- On February 11, 2019 Megan Cooper discovered seventy-two artworks in a precise spiral with Hunter’s painted portrait at the center and a nameplate reading DR. WARREN COLE, FOUNDER, 1887

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1502falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-five-thirty-in-the-morning-on-january-eleventh--73181483
A zip-tied Harlan County library card and a notarized deed found on a cottonwood branch at dawn opened a case that reached from a late-night radio show to a fourteen-acre parcel in eastern Oregon. Who placed those two objects together and what did that small, deliberate gesture reveal about a woman who had been living under another name built on a dead child's identity?

In this episode, we follow Marilyn Ramsey's path from Klamath Falls to the Dawnward Circle property, the rise of Connie Moore's nightly broadcasts, and the ledger entries and Nevada filings that connected a voice on the air to alleged financial exploitation without revealing the full motive until the deed appeared in a tree.

Person: Marilyn Ramsey
Organization: Dawnward Circle LLC / Clearpath Audio
Alias: Connie Moore / Connie Murnane
Location: Varna, Harlan County, Oregon
Date: January 11, 2014

- Angela O'Connor found a Harlan County library card in the name of Marilyn Ramsey zip-tied to a cottonwood branch at 5:30 AM on January 11, 2014.
- The deed folded with the card was dated January 3, 2014 and transferred the fourteen-acre parcel from Dawnward Circle LLC to Connie Moore personally.
- Marilyn moved to the Varna parcel in June 1999 and labeled a box "Previous Self - Released" which she never opened.
- Marilyn's ledger recorded transfers of $42,000 in 2001 and roughly $110,000 over the next seven years totaling $189,000 in transfers tied to accounts controlled by a woman using a false identity.
- The Social Security number used by Connie Moore belonged to an infant who died in 1954 and courtroom evidence led to Moore's conviction on counts including wire fraud and identity fraud with a nine-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181483Tue, 22 Sep 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt five thirty in the morning on January eleventh A zip-tied Harlan County library card and a notarized deed found on a cottonwood branch at dawn opened a case that reached from a late-night radio show to a fourteen-acre parcel in eastern Oregon....
A zip-tied Harlan County library card and a notarized deed found on a cottonwood branch at dawn opened a case that reached from a late-night radio show to a fourteen-acre parcel in eastern Oregon. Who placed those two objects together and what did that small, deliberate gesture reveal about a woman who had been living under another name built on a dead child's identity?

In this episode, we follow Marilyn Ramsey's path from Klamath Falls to the Dawnward Circle property, the rise of Connie Moore's nightly broadcasts, and the ledger entries and Nevada filings that connected a voice on the air to alleged financial exploitation without revealing the full motive until the deed appeared in a tree.

Person: Marilyn Ramsey
Organization: Dawnward Circle LLC / Clearpath Audio
Alias: Connie Moore / Connie Murnane
Location: Varna, Harlan County, Oregon
Date: January 11, 2014

- Angela O'Connor found a Harlan County library card in the name of Marilyn Ramsey zip-tied to a cottonwood branch at 5:30 AM on January 11, 2014.
- The deed folded with the card was dated January 3, 2014 and transferred the fourteen-acre parcel from Dawnward Circle LLC to Connie Moore personally.
- Marilyn moved to the Varna parcel in June 1999 and labeled a box "Previous Self - Released" which she never opened.
- Marilyn's ledger recorded transfers of $42,000 in 2001 and roughly $110,000 over the next seven years totaling $189,000 in transfers tied to accounts controlled by a woman using a false identity.
- The Social Security number used by Connie Moore belonged to an infant who died in 1954 and courtroom evidence led to Moore's conviction on counts including wire fraud and identity fraud with a nine-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1401falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-the-truth-enters-the-room-the-notebook-had-not-blown-there--73181482
A composition notebook lay open in gravel fifteen feet from a padlocked gate on December 11, 2019 with frost along its spine and the same forty-one words on every page in a child's hand: "Troy Ford speaks and the truth enters the room." The frost pattern proved it had been placed deliberately; who slid that notebook under the gate and why did a Level Four rhetoric exercise carry a disclosure instead of lesson plans?

In this episode, we follow the discovery from Dean Vaughn's photograph to the Pathway Home Education Trust, profiling Troy Ford, the families who joined his twelve-acre experimental community, and the slow unraveling that tied a financial cooperation agreement to a thirteen-year-old Ohio assault case.

Person: Troy Ford
Location: twelve-acre property outside Harwick County, Indiana
Date: December 11, 2019 (notebook photographed)
Organization: Pathway Home Education Trust
Journalist: Vernon Price

- Dean Vaughn, a Harwick County meter reader of eleven years, photographed the open notebook in the gravel before touching it on December 11, 2019.
- Each page of the children's Level Four rhetoric books contained the sentence "Troy Ford speaks and the truth enters the room" written forty-one times.
- Enrollment agreements from three families included a clause directing all earned income into a trustee-controlled account labeled "community coherence maintenance."
- On November 29, 2019 Kelly Boyd used car keys and a folded note saying "I can't go yet. Please get help" to escape the compound at 2:00 AM and drove to Cloverdale.
- A DNA sample provided under Ford’s cooperation agreement matched an unsolved 2007 Ohio assault of Patricia Solano and led to Ford’s extradition in fall 2020.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181482Mon, 21 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at Obomediaand the truth enters the room. The notebook had not blown there A composition notebook lay open in gravel fifteen feet from a padlocked gate on December 11, 2019 with frost along its spine and the same forty-one words on every page in a child's...
A composition notebook lay open in gravel fifteen feet from a padlocked gate on December 11, 2019 with frost along its spine and the same forty-one words on every page in a child's hand: "Troy Ford speaks and the truth enters the room." The frost pattern proved it had been placed deliberately; who slid that notebook under the gate and why did a Level Four rhetoric exercise carry a disclosure instead of lesson plans?

In this episode, we follow the discovery from Dean Vaughn's photograph to the Pathway Home Education Trust, profiling Troy Ford, the families who joined his twelve-acre experimental community, and the slow unraveling that tied a financial cooperation agreement to a thirteen-year-old Ohio assault case.

Person: Troy Ford
Location: twelve-acre property outside Harwick County, Indiana
Date: December 11, 2019 (notebook photographed)
Organization: Pathway Home Education Trust
Journalist: Vernon Price

- Dean Vaughn, a Harwick County meter reader of eleven years, photographed the open notebook in the gravel before touching it on December 11, 2019.
- Each page of the children's Level Four rhetoric books contained the sentence "Troy Ford speaks and the truth enters the room" written forty-one times.
- Enrollment agreements from three families included a clause directing all earned income into a trustee-controlled account labeled "community coherence maintenance."
- On November 29, 2019 Kelly Boyd used car keys and a folded note saying "I can't go yet. Please get help" to escape the compound at 2:00 AM and drove to Cloverdale.
- A DNA sample provided under Ford’s cooperation agreement matched an unsolved 2007 Ohio assault of Patricia Solano and led to Ford’s extradition in fall 2020.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1502falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-boards-around-it-were-slick-and-dark-with-fog--73181481
A round yellow cake, frosted in pink with seven unlit candles and blue lettering that read "HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY LENA," sat on the wet dock boards at Tilson Wharf at 7:43 AM on November 9, 2019 - a small, impossible object left before dawn and photographed by a deacon's assistant who called the non-emergency line. What did that cake mean to a man trapped in a ledger of manufactured debt and how did a single gesture change the course of an investigation that began with money and ended with a missing person?

In this episode, we follow the rise and fall of the Tidal Compact through the eyes of Frank Fisher, the fabricated identity of Grant Anderson, and investigative reporting by Marvin Price, tracing how a cooperative vocabulary, a rotating ledger, and concealed wire transfers produced conviction without resolving an earlier disappearance.

Person: Frank Fisher
Person: Grant Anderson / Gerald Mott
Date: November 9-10, 2019
Location: Tilson Wharf, Carver's Inlet
Event: conviction for wire fraud theft by deception and unlawful confinement

- Eric Baker photographed the cake on Tilson Wharf at 7:43 AM on November 9, 2019 and called the non-emergency line.
- Grant Anderson recruited members aboard the converted sardine carrier Constance beginning in spring 2016 and created tide shares and administrative tides.
- Forensic accountants traced roughly $400,000 collected by the Compact with $140,000 moved to Tidal Compact Partners LLC and then to Anderson's personal expenditures.
- Anderson was arrested in spring 2020 and convicted on all three counts after a jury deliberated for four hours.
- A gillnetter named Pete Stamos disappeared in 2013 after confronting a similar cooperative organizer and his case remains an open homicide investigation with Anderson named as a suspect.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181481Sun, 20 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe boards around it were slick and dark with fog A round yellow cake, frosted in pink with seven unlit candles and blue lettering that read "HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY LENA," sat on the wet dock boards at Tilson Wharf at 7:43 AM on November 9, 2019 - a...
A round yellow cake, frosted in pink with seven unlit candles and blue lettering that read "HAPPY 7TH BIRTHDAY LENA," sat on the wet dock boards at Tilson Wharf at 7:43 AM on November 9, 2019 - a small, impossible object left before dawn and photographed by a deacon's assistant who called the non-emergency line. What did that cake mean to a man trapped in a ledger of manufactured debt and how did a single gesture change the course of an investigation that began with money and ended with a missing person?

In this episode, we follow the rise and fall of the Tidal Compact through the eyes of Frank Fisher, the fabricated identity of Grant Anderson, and investigative reporting by Marvin Price, tracing how a cooperative vocabulary, a rotating ledger, and concealed wire transfers produced conviction without resolving an earlier disappearance.

Person: Frank Fisher
Person: Grant Anderson / Gerald Mott
Date: November 9-10, 2019
Location: Tilson Wharf, Carver's Inlet
Event: conviction for wire fraud theft by deception and unlawful confinement

- Eric Baker photographed the cake on Tilson Wharf at 7:43 AM on November 9, 2019 and called the non-emergency line.
- Grant Anderson recruited members aboard the converted sardine carrier Constance beginning in spring 2016 and created tide shares and administrative tides.
- Forensic accountants traced roughly $400,000 collected by the Compact with $140,000 moved to Tidal Compact Partners LLC and then to Anderson's personal expenditures.
- Anderson was arrested in spring 2020 and convicted on all three counts after a jury deliberated for four hours.
- A gillnetter named Pete Stamos disappeared in 2013 after confronting a similar cooperative organizer and his case remains an open homicide investigation with Anderson named as a suspect.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1398falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/it-had-been-looped-twice-carefully-as-though-someone-wanted-it-to-stay--73181480
A leather satchel hung from a dead pine branch forty meters off a hiking trail on Crenshaw Ridge, looped twice with deliberate care, and inside were forty-seven handwritten index cards, a Sorveth pocket dictionary, and a composition notebook belonging to twenty-two-year-old David Foster - who had not spoken English in eleven months. Why was a private record left in the woods rather than handed to authorities and what did those material traces reveal about the place that kept him silent?

In this episode, we trace David Foster's arrival at the Sorveth Institute, Carl Coleman's fabricated credentials, the Institute's no-English rules and financial structure, and the discovery that unraveled the community - without spoiling how the legal case played out.

Person: David Foster
Organization: Sorveth Institute
Person: Carl Coleman
Location: Crenshaw Ridge / Millhaven
Date: October (exit) and four days later satchel found

- David Foster transferred $4,200 from his savings into the Institute's communal fund after arriving in the spring at age twenty-two.
- The Institute enforced three rules including no English inside after the first thirty days and supervised outside contact after sixty days.
- A nine-year-old university disciplinary photocopy naming Carl Mercer appeared under David's door and he kept it folded in his notebook.
- Forensic accountant Ray Odom traced transfers from at least six individuals across three states into an LLC registered eight years earlier that received residents' funds.
- Eleven months inside Sorveth, David walked out through the north service gate with $412 and his composition notebook then hung the satchel on a dead pine branch where it was found four days later.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181480Sat, 19 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaIt had been looped twice, carefully, as though someone wanted it to stay A leather satchel hung from a dead pine branch forty meters off a hiking trail on Crenshaw Ridge, looped twice with deliberate care, and inside were forty-seven handwritten...
A leather satchel hung from a dead pine branch forty meters off a hiking trail on Crenshaw Ridge, looped twice with deliberate care, and inside were forty-seven handwritten index cards, a Sorveth pocket dictionary, and a composition notebook belonging to twenty-two-year-old David Foster - who had not spoken English in eleven months. Why was a private record left in the woods rather than handed to authorities and what did those material traces reveal about the place that kept him silent?

In this episode, we trace David Foster's arrival at the Sorveth Institute, Carl Coleman's fabricated credentials, the Institute's no-English rules and financial structure, and the discovery that unraveled the community - without spoiling how the legal case played out.

Person: David Foster
Organization: Sorveth Institute
Person: Carl Coleman
Location: Crenshaw Ridge / Millhaven
Date: October (exit) and four days later satchel found

- David Foster transferred $4,200 from his savings into the Institute's communal fund after arriving in the spring at age twenty-two.
- The Institute enforced three rules including no English inside after the first thirty days and supervised outside contact after sixty days.
- A nine-year-old university disciplinary photocopy naming Carl Mercer appeared under David's door and he kept it folded in his notebook.
- Forensic accountant Ray Odom traced transfers from at least six individuals across three states into an LLC registered eight years earlier that received residents' funds.
- Eleven months inside Sorveth, David walked out through the north service gate with $412 and his composition notebook then hung the satchel on a dead pine branch where it was found four days later.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1428falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/laminated-folded-once-threaded-deliberately-through-a-punched-hole-onto-the-monofilament-line--73181478
Before dawn on September 14, 2011, a channel catfish came up on Philip Watson's trotline and with it a theater playbill that should have been waterlogged but was perfectly dry - laminated, folded once, and threaded through a punched hole onto the line. Why had a forensically traceable program from the Meridian Players been placed on a riverside fishing line two days after a troupe member vanished and four days before she turned up disoriented sixty miles away?

In this episode, we trace how Edward Petersen built the Meridian Players as a two-decade system of mapped spaces, assigned roles, pooled funds, and manufactured credentials, and how a dry playbill on Watson's line became central evidence in a case that ended in convictions but left other disappearances unresolved.

Person: Edward Petersen
Event: playbill pulled from trotline
Date: September 14, 2011
Location: Calder River (Route Nine launch below Maren)
Organization: Meridian Players Works

- Philip Watson found the laminated playbill on his trotline before full light on September 14, 2011 and the water that morning was sixty-one degrees.
- Forensic tests matched the playbill to Meridian Players Works' printing and lamination process and the punched hole tool came from storage unit 44 in Vance.
- Edward Petersen had leased storage unit 44 since the late 1990s and used handyman work to map venues later used by the troupe.
- Sandra Ohr disappeared from the Okalee County Fairgrounds after the September 12 closing performance and was found four days later at a Tillen bus station with no money or identification.
- The jury convicted Petersen on two counts of unlawful imprisonment and one count of financial fraud after the court presented the dry playbill threaded with monofilament that matched a spool from the troupe's bus.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181478Fri, 18 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaLaminated, folded once, threaded deliberately through a punched hole onto the monofilament line Before dawn on September 14, 2011, a channel catfish came up on Philip Watson's trotline and with it a theater playbill that should have been...
Before dawn on September 14, 2011, a channel catfish came up on Philip Watson's trotline and with it a theater playbill that should have been waterlogged but was perfectly dry - laminated, folded once, and threaded through a punched hole onto the line. Why had a forensically traceable program from the Meridian Players been placed on a riverside fishing line two days after a troupe member vanished and four days before she turned up disoriented sixty miles away?

In this episode, we trace how Edward Petersen built the Meridian Players as a two-decade system of mapped spaces, assigned roles, pooled funds, and manufactured credentials, and how a dry playbill on Watson's line became central evidence in a case that ended in convictions but left other disappearances unresolved.

Person: Edward Petersen
Event: playbill pulled from trotline
Date: September 14, 2011
Location: Calder River (Route Nine launch below Maren)
Organization: Meridian Players Works

- Philip Watson found the laminated playbill on his trotline before full light on September 14, 2011 and the water that morning was sixty-one degrees.
- Forensic tests matched the playbill to Meridian Players Works' printing and lamination process and the punched hole tool came from storage unit 44 in Vance.
- Edward Petersen had leased storage unit 44 since the late 1990s and used handyman work to map venues later used by the troupe.
- Sandra Ohr disappeared from the Okalee County Fairgrounds after the September 12 closing performance and was found four days later at a Tillen bus station with no money or identification.
- The jury convicted Petersen on two counts of unlawful imprisonment and one count of financial fraud after the court presented the dry playbill threaded with monofilament that matched a spool from the troupe's bus.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1482falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-seven-in-the-morning-on-a-dry-august-day-in-two-thousand-eleven--73181477
A surveyor walking a Crellin County property line found an upright olive-drab filing cabinet standing in a dry drainage ditch with its rubber seals intact and roughly nine hundred pages of internal records inside. Those pages traced thirty months of the Meridian Fellowship - attendance logs, ledgers, behavioral assessments signed only as "the Shepherd" - and suggested money, disappearance, and a system that used grief to reconfigure community. How did a man who never preached an apocalypse build a structure that erased ordinary traces of people?

In this episode, we trace the Meridian Fellowship from a Morrow Springs grief group to a converted Center twelve miles out of town, focusing on Ralph O'Connor, Lisa Crawford, the Alignment process, and the ledger entries that do not match reality while asking what remains unexplained in the record.

Person: Ralph O'Connor
Person: Lisa Crawford
Location: Morrow Springs, Iowa / Crellin County property line
Period: February 2008-August 2011
Event: filing cabinet discovered August 2011

- The filing cabinet was found upright in a dry drainage ditch by surveyor Frances Burns in the third week of August 2011 with four intact drawers and about nine hundred dry pages inside.
- The Meridian Fellowship records documented roughly thirty months, twenty-three adult members, and total contributions of $416,000.
- Ledgers show O'Connor drew $9,000 a month listed as a "Shepherd Operational Stipend" and every entry matched corresponding attendance logs.
- Two members listed as current in attendance logs had no credit activity or state records after their last ledger entry and six contributors had made no contribution in fourteen months or more.
- Ralph O'Connor pleaded guilty in January 2012 to two counts of financial exploitation and admitted to fraudulent use of D.F.'s account despite the public record offering no explanation for D.F.'s ultimate whereabouts.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181477Thu, 17 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt seven in the morning on a dry August day in two thousand eleven A surveyor walking a Crellin County property line found an upright olive-drab filing cabinet standing in a dry drainage ditch with its rubber seals intact and roughly nine hundred...
A surveyor walking a Crellin County property line found an upright olive-drab filing cabinet standing in a dry drainage ditch with its rubber seals intact and roughly nine hundred pages of internal records inside. Those pages traced thirty months of the Meridian Fellowship - attendance logs, ledgers, behavioral assessments signed only as "the Shepherd" - and suggested money, disappearance, and a system that used grief to reconfigure community. How did a man who never preached an apocalypse build a structure that erased ordinary traces of people?

In this episode, we trace the Meridian Fellowship from a Morrow Springs grief group to a converted Center twelve miles out of town, focusing on Ralph O'Connor, Lisa Crawford, the Alignment process, and the ledger entries that do not match reality while asking what remains unexplained in the record.

Person: Ralph O'Connor
Person: Lisa Crawford
Location: Morrow Springs, Iowa / Crellin County property line
Period: February 2008-August 2011
Event: filing cabinet discovered August 2011

- The filing cabinet was found upright in a dry drainage ditch by surveyor Frances Burns in the third week of August 2011 with four intact drawers and about nine hundred dry pages inside.
- The Meridian Fellowship records documented roughly thirty months, twenty-three adult members, and total contributions of $416,000.
- Ledgers show O'Connor drew $9,000 a month listed as a "Shepherd Operational Stipend" and every entry matched corresponding attendance logs.
- Two members listed as current in attendance logs had no credit activity or state records after their last ledger entry and six contributors had made no contribution in fourteen months or more.
- Ralph O'Connor pleaded guilty in January 2012 to two counts of financial exploitation and admitted to fraudulent use of D.F.'s account despite the public record offering no explanation for D.F.'s ultimate whereabouts.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1385falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/on-a-tuesday-morning-in-july-of-two-thousand-sixteen--73181475
A well technician lowered her tools into a dry sealed shaft on the edge of a former horse farm and pulled up a small lacquered music box painted with a yellow daisy - dusty but undamaged, as if placed there carefully and left to wait. Why was a personal keepsake belonging to a grieving woman buried twenty-two feet down on Sutter Road, and what did its deliberate concealment reveal about the group that had taken it from her?

In this episode, we trace how Darlene Phillips walked into a grief meeting in October 2014 and was recruited into the Clearwater Circle under Harvey Jenkins, who posed as a pastoral counselor and built a closed household on Sutter Road while secretly reading members’ journals and redirecting funds.

Person: Darlene Phillips
Person: Harvey Jenkins (aka Harvey Dale Emmons)
Location: Sutter Road horse farm, Hardin County
Date: music box recovered July 2016
Amount: ~$41,000 transferred from shared account

- Darlene was twenty-four when she attended her first Clearwater Circle meeting in October 2014 eleven weeks after finding her mother dead.
- Jenkins required a ninety-day "Settlement Period" during which members surrendered their phones and attended 5:30 AM alignment sessions.
- Over roughly two years about forty-one thousand dollars moved from the Circle's shared account into accounts controlled by Jenkins.
- Investigators executing a second warrant found forty-seven journals in a locked cabinet marked with Jenkins's handwritten behavioral notes and dates.
- Darlene had placed her mother's lacquered music box in the sealed twenty-two-foot well in 2014 and investigators returned it to her in July 2016.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181475Wed, 16 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaOn a Tuesday morning in July of two thousand sixteen A well technician lowered her tools into a dry sealed shaft on the edge of a former horse farm and pulled up a small lacquered music box painted with a yellow daisy - dusty but undamaged, as if...
A well technician lowered her tools into a dry sealed shaft on the edge of a former horse farm and pulled up a small lacquered music box painted with a yellow daisy - dusty but undamaged, as if placed there carefully and left to wait. Why was a personal keepsake belonging to a grieving woman buried twenty-two feet down on Sutter Road, and what did its deliberate concealment reveal about the group that had taken it from her?

In this episode, we trace how Darlene Phillips walked into a grief meeting in October 2014 and was recruited into the Clearwater Circle under Harvey Jenkins, who posed as a pastoral counselor and built a closed household on Sutter Road while secretly reading members’ journals and redirecting funds.

Person: Darlene Phillips
Person: Harvey Jenkins (aka Harvey Dale Emmons)
Location: Sutter Road horse farm, Hardin County
Date: music box recovered July 2016
Amount: ~$41,000 transferred from shared account

- Darlene was twenty-four when she attended her first Clearwater Circle meeting in October 2014 eleven weeks after finding her mother dead.
- Jenkins required a ninety-day "Settlement Period" during which members surrendered their phones and attended 5:30 AM alignment sessions.
- Over roughly two years about forty-one thousand dollars moved from the Circle's shared account into accounts controlled by Jenkins.
- Investigators executing a second warrant found forty-seven journals in a locked cabinet marked with Jenkins's handwritten behavioral notes and dates.
- Darlene had placed her mother's lacquered music box in the sealed twenty-two-foot well in 2014 and investigators returned it to her in July 2016.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1439falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-table-had-been-shimmed-level-with-cedar-shingles--73181473
A birdwatcher found an oak dining table set for eight in a gravel clearing above Tenbrook reservoir on the morning of June 23, 2011 - ceramic place settings, a pitcher, forty yards of white lace, and eight sealed envelopes addressed to Fellowship members. Who prepared that scene with the care of counting cedar shingles and folding lace, and what did those serene, specific instructions mean for the people who had organized their lives around a predicted apocalypse?

In this episode, we follow Michelle Bowers into the Decatur Street house, trace Ronald Murphy’s leadership of the Ascending Light Fellowship and the four-year build toward the June 20, 2011 Compression, and examine how the Threshold Site and the envelopes revealed a pattern of control that ended in criminal charges without resolving what Murphy believed.

Person: Michelle Bowers
Person: Ronald Murphy (alias Ronald Marsh / Ronald D. Kimsey)
Location: Threshold Site above Tenbrook reservoir
Date: June 20, 2011 (Compression) / June 23, 2011 (table found)
Organization: Ascending Light Fellowship
Status: Conviction - theft by deception and exploitation; sentence six years served four

- On June 23, 2011 at approximately 6:22 AM Michelle Wells photographed the oak table for eleven minutes before calling Harmon County dispatch.
- The Threshold Site had been prepared over six consecutive weekends in spring 2010 and the Fellowship journal logged “table, ceramics, lace, shingles” in May 2010.
- Eight sealed envelopes in Murphy’s handwriting addressed to named members instructed them to proceed to the Threshold Site and await guidance if the Compression occurred.
- Agnes Kimball, age 67, transferred the title of a rental property into the Fellowship’s maintenance fund about eighteen months before Murphy’s arrest.
- Murphy was arrested July 8, 2011, convicted on four counts of theft by deception and one count of criminal exploitation of a vulnerable adult, and later wrote that he “expected something to happen” without specifying what.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181473Tue, 15 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe table had been shimmed level with cedar shingles A birdwatcher found an oak dining table set for eight in a gravel clearing above Tenbrook reservoir on the morning of June 23, 2011 - ceramic place settings, a pitcher, forty yards of white lace,...
A birdwatcher found an oak dining table set for eight in a gravel clearing above Tenbrook reservoir on the morning of June 23, 2011 - ceramic place settings, a pitcher, forty yards of white lace, and eight sealed envelopes addressed to Fellowship members. Who prepared that scene with the care of counting cedar shingles and folding lace, and what did those serene, specific instructions mean for the people who had organized their lives around a predicted apocalypse?

In this episode, we follow Michelle Bowers into the Decatur Street house, trace Ronald Murphy’s leadership of the Ascending Light Fellowship and the four-year build toward the June 20, 2011 Compression, and examine how the Threshold Site and the envelopes revealed a pattern of control that ended in criminal charges without resolving what Murphy believed.

Person: Michelle Bowers
Person: Ronald Murphy (alias Ronald Marsh / Ronald D. Kimsey)
Location: Threshold Site above Tenbrook reservoir
Date: June 20, 2011 (Compression) / June 23, 2011 (table found)
Organization: Ascending Light Fellowship
Status: Conviction - theft by deception and exploitation; sentence six years served four

- On June 23, 2011 at approximately 6:22 AM Michelle Wells photographed the oak table for eleven minutes before calling Harmon County dispatch.
- The Threshold Site had been prepared over six consecutive weekends in spring 2010 and the Fellowship journal logged “table, ceramics, lace, shingles” in May 2010.
- Eight sealed envelopes in Murphy’s handwriting addressed to named members instructed them to proceed to the Threshold Site and await guidance if the Compression occurred.
- Agnes Kimball, age 67, transferred the title of a rental property into the Fellowship’s maintenance fund about eighteen months before Murphy’s arrest.
- Murphy was arrested July 8, 2011, convicted on four counts of theft by deception and one count of criminal exploitation of a vulnerable adult, and later wrote that he “expected something to happen” without specifying what.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1466falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/every-mug-was-stamped-with-the-same-three-letters-w-l-c--73181472
A paper-route teenager stopped her bike in a ditch and found forty-three identical white mugs planted in eleven perfect rows across an abandoned field on Route 9-each stamped W.L.C. and buried with no explanation. What did those rows mean, who had the time and access to place them, and why would someone plant a ledger of people in the soil instead of leaving a note?

In this episode, we trace Connie Allen’s three-year life inside the Whitlow Learning Community, the gradual erosion of her family’s greenhouse finances, and the painstaking act she carried out to record forty-three departures without being allowed to speak.

Person: Connie Allen
Organization: Whitlow Learning Community (W.L.C.)
Location: Vance farm property, Route 9, Farlow Township Illinois
Date: May 14, 2009
Amount: approximately $140,000 transferred over 26 months

- Denise Whitley, age 15, found forty-three white mugs in eleven rows in a vacant field on the morning of May 14, 2009.
- Duane Osborne arrived at the Allen greenhouse in May 2006 and by August 2006 had twelve W.L.C. members living on the Vance property.
- Sixty percent of the nursery’s spring revenue was routed into a W.L.C. account after Osborne’s involvement in 2006 and 2007.
- Investigators documented approximately $140,000 moved from Allen Family Greenhouse accounts into W.L.C. funds across twenty-six months.
- Connie Allen planted one mug for each of forty-three people who had passed through or been displaced from the community before walking out on May 2, 2009.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181472Mon, 14 Sep 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaEvery mug was stamped with the same three letters: W.L.C A paper-route teenager stopped her bike in a ditch and found forty-three identical white mugs planted in eleven perfect rows across an abandoned field on Route 9-each stamped W.L.C. and...
A paper-route teenager stopped her bike in a ditch and found forty-three identical white mugs planted in eleven perfect rows across an abandoned field on Route 9-each stamped W.L.C. and buried with no explanation. What did those rows mean, who had the time and access to place them, and why would someone plant a ledger of people in the soil instead of leaving a note?

In this episode, we trace Connie Allen’s three-year life inside the Whitlow Learning Community, the gradual erosion of her family’s greenhouse finances, and the painstaking act she carried out to record forty-three departures without being allowed to speak.

Person: Connie Allen
Organization: Whitlow Learning Community (W.L.C.)
Location: Vance farm property, Route 9, Farlow Township Illinois
Date: May 14, 2009
Amount: approximately $140,000 transferred over 26 months

- Denise Whitley, age 15, found forty-three white mugs in eleven rows in a vacant field on the morning of May 14, 2009.
- Duane Osborne arrived at the Allen greenhouse in May 2006 and by August 2006 had twelve W.L.C. members living on the Vance property.
- Sixty percent of the nursery’s spring revenue was routed into a W.L.C. account after Osborne’s involvement in 2006 and 2007.
- Investigators documented approximately $140,000 moved from Allen Family Greenhouse accounts into W.L.C. funds across twenty-six months.
- Connie Allen planted one mug for each of forty-three people who had passed through or been displaced from the community before walking out on May 2, 2009.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1371falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/lock-side-out-knotted-twice-through-the-lanyard-ring--73181470
A laminated Pineward name badge threaded through a brass deadbolt - bolt extended, lock side out, knotted twice through the lanyard ring - sat in red clay on a closed logging road on April 4, 2018, five months after the road was sealed. How did a simple piece of hardware with Christine Simmons’s name end up on that frozen road and what did it reveal about what was happening behind the lodge doors?

In this episode, we trace Christine Simmons’s eleven-month disappearance into the Pineward Wellness Retreat, the pattern of outside locks and nightly control, Wade Hicks’s false credentials and financial transfers, and how a reporter’s article and a found deadbolt shifted an investigation without answering how exhaustion and rhetoric were used to erode resistance.

Person: Christine Simmons
Organization: Pineward Wellness Retreat
Person: Wade Hicks
Date: April 4, 2018
Event: deadbolt with name badge found on Brasher Creek access road

- Vernon Callahan found a laminated Pineward badge knotted through a brass deadbolt on April 4, 2018 on the closed Brasher Creek access road.
- Christine Simmons enrolled in Pineward in February 2017 paying $2,200 per month and did not return to her sister’s Wednesday visits for eleven months.
- Staff testified that exterior deadbolts were installed with the lock side facing the hallway and were engaged on enough nights that residents stopped assuming their doors would open.
- Financial records showed $418,000 transferred from resident accounts into Wade Hicks’s personal accounts over Pineward’s 31 months of operation.
- Kevin Marsh testified that Hicks collected deadbolts the night Christine and two other residents tried to leave and drove them off the property where one bolt fell onto the road and remained through the winter.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181470Sun, 13 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at Obomedialock side out, knotted twice through the lanyard ring A laminated Pineward name badge threaded through a brass deadbolt - bolt extended, lock side out, knotted twice through the lanyard ring - sat in red clay on a closed logging road on April 4,...
A laminated Pineward name badge threaded through a brass deadbolt - bolt extended, lock side out, knotted twice through the lanyard ring - sat in red clay on a closed logging road on April 4, 2018, five months after the road was sealed. How did a simple piece of hardware with Christine Simmons’s name end up on that frozen road and what did it reveal about what was happening behind the lodge doors?

In this episode, we trace Christine Simmons’s eleven-month disappearance into the Pineward Wellness Retreat, the pattern of outside locks and nightly control, Wade Hicks’s false credentials and financial transfers, and how a reporter’s article and a found deadbolt shifted an investigation without answering how exhaustion and rhetoric were used to erode resistance.

Person: Christine Simmons
Organization: Pineward Wellness Retreat
Person: Wade Hicks
Date: April 4, 2018
Event: deadbolt with name badge found on Brasher Creek access road

- Vernon Callahan found a laminated Pineward badge knotted through a brass deadbolt on April 4, 2018 on the closed Brasher Creek access road.
- Christine Simmons enrolled in Pineward in February 2017 paying $2,200 per month and did not return to her sister’s Wednesday visits for eleven months.
- Staff testified that exterior deadbolts were installed with the lock side facing the hallway and were engaged on enough nights that residents stopped assuming their doors would open.
- Financial records showed $418,000 transferred from resident accounts into Wade Hicks’s personal accounts over Pineward’s 31 months of operation.
- Kevin Marsh testified that Hicks collected deadbolts the night Christine and two other residents tried to leave and drove them off the property where one bolt fell onto the road and remained through the winter.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1429falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-found-what-she-needed-to-fix-within-minutes--73181468
A single woman's shoe stood upright in a plowed field on March 9, 2019 with one word written on the sole in black permanent marker: REDEEMED. A utility technician photographed it before calling the sheriff and that small object pulled back a six-year pattern of isolation, a controlled vocabulary, and a man who had built a parallel world on eighty-three acres. What exactly did that shoe reveal about the Harrow Covenant and the man at its center?

In this episode, we trace the Harrow Covenant from its origins at Calvary Remnant Fellowship through recruitment, financial transfers, and the tuning rituals led by Randy Sullivan, stopping at the shoe that focused investigators’ attention without being a crime scene and the conviction that followed.

Person: Connie Basham
Person: Randy Sullivan
Location: Harrow Road, Breckett County (near Aldine)
Organization: Covenant Land Stewardship LLC
Date: March 9, 2019

- Crystal Wells photographed the shoe at the edge of a plowed field on Harrow Road before calling the Breckett County sheriff.
- The word REDEEMED was written on the inside sole in black permanent marker and matched Sullivan’s group vocabulary.
- Gary Gallagher liquidated $14,000 from his retirement and moved to the Covenant property in March 2013.
- Sullivan was arrested in April 2019 on four counts of felony fraud and later convicted and sentenced to seven years.
- Connie Basham wrote REDEEMED herself during a tuning exercise and was found safe at her cousin’s house in Aldine forty-eight hours after the shoe was photographed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181468Sat, 12 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe found what she needed to fix within minutes A single woman's shoe stood upright in a plowed field on March 9, 2019 with one word written on the sole in black permanent marker: REDEEMED. A utility technician photographed it before calling the...
A single woman's shoe stood upright in a plowed field on March 9, 2019 with one word written on the sole in black permanent marker: REDEEMED. A utility technician photographed it before calling the sheriff and that small object pulled back a six-year pattern of isolation, a controlled vocabulary, and a man who had built a parallel world on eighty-three acres. What exactly did that shoe reveal about the Harrow Covenant and the man at its center?

In this episode, we trace the Harrow Covenant from its origins at Calvary Remnant Fellowship through recruitment, financial transfers, and the tuning rituals led by Randy Sullivan, stopping at the shoe that focused investigators’ attention without being a crime scene and the conviction that followed.

Person: Connie Basham
Person: Randy Sullivan
Location: Harrow Road, Breckett County (near Aldine)
Organization: Covenant Land Stewardship LLC
Date: March 9, 2019

- Crystal Wells photographed the shoe at the edge of a plowed field on Harrow Road before calling the Breckett County sheriff.
- The word REDEEMED was written on the inside sole in black permanent marker and matched Sullivan’s group vocabulary.
- Gary Gallagher liquidated $14,000 from his retirement and moved to the Covenant property in March 2013.
- Sullivan was arrested in April 2019 on four counts of felony fraud and later convicted and sentenced to seven years.
- Connie Basham wrote REDEEMED herself during a tuning exercise and was found safe at her cousin’s house in Aldine forty-eight hours after the shoe was photographed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1376falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-six-fifteen-on-a-february-morning-in-two-thousand-nineteen--73181466
A cream-colored Olivetti Lettera 32 sat on a snow-dusted bench in Hadden Park as though someone had simply stepped away, warm to the touch and carrying a sheet with the last line of a manifesto still in the carriage. What did that typewriter reveal about a small Brackett personal-development circle and the man who built a language of integration and pressure around his authority?

In this episode, we follow the discovery of the Olivetti to the investigation that exposed Mark Wright’s fabricated credentials and the architecture of the Brackett Life Design Circle, tracing how vocabulary, payments, and integration weekends shaped members’ choices without explicit orders.

Person: Crystal Simmons
Organization: Stonebridge Personal Development LLC / Brackett Life Design Circle
Location: Brackett, Ohio; Hadden Park; Millrace farmhouse
Date: February 11, 2019 (typewriter found); September 6, 2018 (registrar letter)
Event: Trial verdict January 2020 (convicted on seven counts)

- Dale White found the Olivetti Lettera 32 on a Hadden Park bench at 6:15 AM on February 11, 2019 with a sheet still in the carriage.
- The machine was warm and had been inside a heated vehicle for approximately forty-five minutes consistent with travel from the Millrace farmhouse.
- Crystal Simmons paid $8,400 to Stonebridge over twenty-two months and returned to her weekly Food Pantry shift in December 2018 without missing a single Wednesday for the following two years.
- Journalist Ralph Doyle obtained a registrar's letter on September 6, 2018 confirming Mark Wright had no record at the Colorado university he claimed to have attended.
- Eight days after the Olivetti was found Mark Wright was arrested in a Canton motel and later convicted on seven counts of felony theft by deception and sentenced to four to six years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181466Fri, 11 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt six fifteen on a February morning in two thousand nineteen A cream-colored Olivetti Lettera 32 sat on a snow-dusted bench in Hadden Park as though someone had simply stepped away, warm to the touch and carrying a sheet with the last line of a...
A cream-colored Olivetti Lettera 32 sat on a snow-dusted bench in Hadden Park as though someone had simply stepped away, warm to the touch and carrying a sheet with the last line of a manifesto still in the carriage. What did that typewriter reveal about a small Brackett personal-development circle and the man who built a language of integration and pressure around his authority?

In this episode, we follow the discovery of the Olivetti to the investigation that exposed Mark Wright’s fabricated credentials and the architecture of the Brackett Life Design Circle, tracing how vocabulary, payments, and integration weekends shaped members’ choices without explicit orders.

Person: Crystal Simmons
Organization: Stonebridge Personal Development LLC / Brackett Life Design Circle
Location: Brackett, Ohio; Hadden Park; Millrace farmhouse
Date: February 11, 2019 (typewriter found); September 6, 2018 (registrar letter)
Event: Trial verdict January 2020 (convicted on seven counts)

- Dale White found the Olivetti Lettera 32 on a Hadden Park bench at 6:15 AM on February 11, 2019 with a sheet still in the carriage.
- The machine was warm and had been inside a heated vehicle for approximately forty-five minutes consistent with travel from the Millrace farmhouse.
- Crystal Simmons paid $8,400 to Stonebridge over twenty-two months and returned to her weekly Food Pantry shift in December 2018 without missing a single Wednesday for the following two years.
- Journalist Ralph Doyle obtained a registrar's letter on September 6, 2018 confirming Mark Wright had no record at the Colorado university he claimed to have attended.
- Eight days after the Olivetti was found Mark Wright was arrested in a Canton motel and later convicted on seven counts of felony theft by deception and sentenced to four to six years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1419falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-found-a-sippy-cup-sitting-on-top-of-a-utility-housing--73181464
A plastic blue sippy cup, warm to the touch and full, sat on a utility meter housing at 6:40 AM on January 14, 2009, with no footprints in the frost around it - a small, impossible clue that prompted a welfare check and exposed an unregistered rural compound where twenty-one adults and two children lived under a regimen of enforced sleep and specialized jargon. How did a forgotten cup and a traced bank account unravel a scheme that had been operating across states for years?

In this episode, we trace the discovery from Brian Riley’s morning round to the Ardmore Wellness Institute, profiling Melvin Mueller and his Meridian Path network, following Pamela Porter’s quiet documentation of a Missouri court letter, and mapping Rhonda Schultz’s financial trace that led investigators to a larger fraud without revealing every courtroom detail.

Person: Melvin Mueller
Location: Ardmore Wellness Institute (former Hargrove ranch), Deming County New Mexico
Date: January 14, 2009
Event: welfare check triggered by meter reader's report
Amount: $412,000

- Meter reader Brian Riley found a warm blue plastic sippy cup atop the utility meter housing at 6:40 AM on January 14, 2009 with no footprints in the frost.
- Inside the Ardmore property deputies found twenty-one adults described in records as disoriented and two children ages four years and eighteen months.
- Pamela Porter paid $4,000 to enroll in March 2007 and paid $51,000 total over twenty-two months before leaving on January 15, 2009.
- Journalist Rhonda Schultz traced transfers totaling $412,000 through Meridian Path Consulting to an account in Mueller’s name in Scottsdale after a tip from accountant Patricia Hume.
- Mueller pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud two counts of unlicensed practice and one count of child endangerment and was sentenced to nine years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181464Thu, 10 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at Obomediaand found a sippy cup sitting on top of a utility housing A plastic blue sippy cup, warm to the touch and full, sat on a utility meter housing at 6:40 AM on January 14, 2009, with no footprints in the frost around it - a small, impossible clue that...
A plastic blue sippy cup, warm to the touch and full, sat on a utility meter housing at 6:40 AM on January 14, 2009, with no footprints in the frost around it - a small, impossible clue that prompted a welfare check and exposed an unregistered rural compound where twenty-one adults and two children lived under a regimen of enforced sleep and specialized jargon. How did a forgotten cup and a traced bank account unravel a scheme that had been operating across states for years?

In this episode, we trace the discovery from Brian Riley’s morning round to the Ardmore Wellness Institute, profiling Melvin Mueller and his Meridian Path network, following Pamela Porter’s quiet documentation of a Missouri court letter, and mapping Rhonda Schultz’s financial trace that led investigators to a larger fraud without revealing every courtroom detail.

Person: Melvin Mueller
Location: Ardmore Wellness Institute (former Hargrove ranch), Deming County New Mexico
Date: January 14, 2009
Event: welfare check triggered by meter reader's report
Amount: $412,000

- Meter reader Brian Riley found a warm blue plastic sippy cup atop the utility meter housing at 6:40 AM on January 14, 2009 with no footprints in the frost.
- Inside the Ardmore property deputies found twenty-one adults described in records as disoriented and two children ages four years and eighteen months.
- Pamela Porter paid $4,000 to enroll in March 2007 and paid $51,000 total over twenty-two months before leaving on January 15, 2009.
- Journalist Rhonda Schultz traced transfers totaling $412,000 through Meridian Path Consulting to an account in Mueller’s name in Scottsdale after a tip from accountant Patricia Hume.
- Mueller pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud two counts of unlicensed practice and one count of child endangerment and was sentenced to nine years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1406falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-nine-forty-in-the-morning-on-december-eleventh--73181463
At nine forty on a December morning Melissa Stevens pressed her face to a cold cabin window at Cedarwatch and counted seventeen sleeping bags, each with a person inside, fully clothed and still, while the temperature outside was twenty-two degrees Fahrenheit and there was no visible heat source. Why were adults sleeping on the floor in their clothes around a laminated summer schedule listing swimming rotations in a facility that had been closed for months?

In this episode, we trace how residents recruited to the Clearwater Initiative ended up at Cedarwatch under Lisa Barrett's "Charter of Practice," how small acts of doubt in October and November intersected with financial and document transfers, and how journalists and detectives uncovered a pattern that had been run once before without resolution.

Person: Amanda McCarthy
Person: Lisa Barrett
Location: Cedarwatch, Pauling County
Date: December 11, 2019
Status: Barrett arrested January 23, 2020

- Melissa Stevens found seventeen occupied sleeping bags at Cedarwatch at 9:40 AM on December 11, 2019 with no visible heat source and an outside temperature of 22°F.
- A laminated activity schedule formatted for summer listing swimming rotations was found on a desk in December despite the site having no pool and officially closing in August.
- Lisa Barrett purchased the Cedarwatch property in 2015 for $63,000 at a county tax sale after working there as a maintenance contractor from 2011 to 2015.
- A storage unit in Pauling County held eleven residents' passports Social Security cards and state IDs collected at intake and never returned to their owners.
- Journalists and investigators found $112,000 transferred over 22 months from a community account to a personal account in Barrett's name and a 2013 security-camera photo linking Barrett to a prior similar case.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181463Wed, 09 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt nine forty in the morning on December eleventh At nine forty on a December morning Melissa Stevens pressed her face to a cold cabin window at Cedarwatch and counted seventeen sleeping bags, each with a person inside, fully clothed and still,...
At nine forty on a December morning Melissa Stevens pressed her face to a cold cabin window at Cedarwatch and counted seventeen sleeping bags, each with a person inside, fully clothed and still, while the temperature outside was twenty-two degrees Fahrenheit and there was no visible heat source. Why were adults sleeping on the floor in their clothes around a laminated summer schedule listing swimming rotations in a facility that had been closed for months?

In this episode, we trace how residents recruited to the Clearwater Initiative ended up at Cedarwatch under Lisa Barrett's "Charter of Practice," how small acts of doubt in October and November intersected with financial and document transfers, and how journalists and detectives uncovered a pattern that had been run once before without resolution.

Person: Amanda McCarthy
Person: Lisa Barrett
Location: Cedarwatch, Pauling County
Date: December 11, 2019
Status: Barrett arrested January 23, 2020

- Melissa Stevens found seventeen occupied sleeping bags at Cedarwatch at 9:40 AM on December 11, 2019 with no visible heat source and an outside temperature of 22°F.
- A laminated activity schedule formatted for summer listing swimming rotations was found on a desk in December despite the site having no pool and officially closing in August.
- Lisa Barrett purchased the Cedarwatch property in 2015 for $63,000 at a county tax sale after working there as a maintenance contractor from 2011 to 2015.
- A storage unit in Pauling County held eleven residents' passports Social Security cards and state IDs collected at intake and never returned to their owners.
- Journalists and investigators found $112,000 transferred over 22 months from a community account to a personal account in Barrett's name and a 2013 security-camera photo linking Barrett to a prior similar case.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1329falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/standing-open-as-if-someone-had-simply-set-it-down-and-walked-away--73181462
A filing cabinet drawer stood upright in the underbrush of Sutter Hollow Nature Preserve, open and perfectly ordered with forty-seven dry manila folders in alphabetical sequence-an arrangement that suggested someone had left in a hurry rather than discarded anything. What did those folders contain, who had the authority to rework a signed charter into something else, and how did twenty-two equity shares quietly vanish into a trust before anyone realized?

In this episode, we trace the rise and collapse of the Fenwick Holding community, the role of Thomas Lawson and the Harmon Stewardship Trust, and the paperwork changes and notarizations that transferred twenty-two equity shares without members’ informed consent while reporters and a former member pulled the story into daylight.

Person: Thomas Lawson
Location: Fenwick Holding (seven-acre parcel outside Millbrook City)
Event: filing cabinet drawer found in Sutter Hollow Nature Preserve
Date: charter signing February 2010
Status: conviction (fraud, theft by deception, unlawful transfer of real property in 2016)

- The drawer was found standing upright and open in Sutter Hollow in the third week of November 2014 with forty-seven manila folders in perfect alphabetical order.
- Twenty-two adults signed a genuine twelve-page co-tenancy charter at a potluck above a hardware store on Fenwick Avenue in February 2010.
- Article Four originally described equity shares as "inalienable and individually held" which by August 2012 had been revised to "held in trust on behalf of the community's ongoing mission."
- Notary Dale Fitch later stated he notarized documents at the property without reading them and did so repeatedly across the transfers.
- Eleven members brought formal claims and Lawson was convicted in spring 2016 after records showed all twenty-two equity shares had been transferred to the Harmon Stewardship Trust with Lawson as sole trustee.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181462Tue, 08 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaStanding, open, as if someone had simply set it down and walked away A filing cabinet drawer stood upright in the underbrush of Sutter Hollow Nature Preserve, open and perfectly ordered with forty-seven dry manila folders in alphabetical...
A filing cabinet drawer stood upright in the underbrush of Sutter Hollow Nature Preserve, open and perfectly ordered with forty-seven dry manila folders in alphabetical sequence-an arrangement that suggested someone had left in a hurry rather than discarded anything. What did those folders contain, who had the authority to rework a signed charter into something else, and how did twenty-two equity shares quietly vanish into a trust before anyone realized?

In this episode, we trace the rise and collapse of the Fenwick Holding community, the role of Thomas Lawson and the Harmon Stewardship Trust, and the paperwork changes and notarizations that transferred twenty-two equity shares without members’ informed consent while reporters and a former member pulled the story into daylight.

Person: Thomas Lawson
Location: Fenwick Holding (seven-acre parcel outside Millbrook City)
Event: filing cabinet drawer found in Sutter Hollow Nature Preserve
Date: charter signing February 2010
Status: conviction (fraud, theft by deception, unlawful transfer of real property in 2016)

- The drawer was found standing upright and open in Sutter Hollow in the third week of November 2014 with forty-seven manila folders in perfect alphabetical order.
- Twenty-two adults signed a genuine twelve-page co-tenancy charter at a potluck above a hardware store on Fenwick Avenue in February 2010.
- Article Four originally described equity shares as "inalienable and individually held" which by August 2012 had been revised to "held in trust on behalf of the community's ongoing mission."
- Notary Dale Fitch later stated he notarized documents at the property without reading them and did so repeatedly across the transfers.
- Eleven members brought formal claims and Lawson was convicted in spring 2016 after records showed all twenty-two equity shares had been transferred to the Harmon Stewardship Trust with Lawson as sole trustee.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1263falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-roots-were-saturated-the-bank-was-mud-to-the-ankle--73181461
A fisherman found a four-hundred-and-twelve page hand-bound conductor's score wedged dry inside a root cavity on the eastern bank of the Sable River on March 4, 2019-a manuscript that should have been waterlogged after weeks of flooding. Who hid the Concordance of the Faithful Score there, and why would the man accused of defrauding a choral community go to the river to preserve one final volume?

In this episode, we trace the Concordance from a Clement Street bookstore flyer to Alan Walsh's Thurlow Mill Road farmhouse, the financial structure that moved $212,000, and the decision that led Kathleen Wilson to walk four miles at night to call for help without revealing her doubt.

Person: Kathleen Wilson
Person: Alan Walsh
Event: Volume IV found in oak root cavity
Date: March 4, 2019
Amount: $212,000

- Scott Parker discovered Volume IV of the Concordance of the Faithful Score wedged dry in an overcup oak root cavity on March 4, 2019.
- Alan Walsh ran workshops beginning January 2017 claiming Eastmore Conservatory training and a Vienna performance that institutions could not verify.
- Thirteen individuals deposited more than $212,000 into the Concordance Choral Institute account over eighteen months with withdrawals structured below reporting thresholds.
- On October 14, 2018 Kathleen walked four miles to a Route 9 gas station and texted her daughter asking her to call the sheriff while running water masked the typing.
- Walsh was arrested October 18, 2018 at a Calhoun motel where three volumes were recovered and within three weeks disclosed he had hidden the fourth volume in the Sable River roots.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181461Mon, 07 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe roots were saturated, the bank was mud to the ankle A fisherman found a four-hundred-and-twelve page hand-bound conductor's score wedged dry inside a root cavity on the eastern bank of the Sable River on March 4, 2019-a manuscript that should...
A fisherman found a four-hundred-and-twelve page hand-bound conductor's score wedged dry inside a root cavity on the eastern bank of the Sable River on March 4, 2019-a manuscript that should have been waterlogged after weeks of flooding. Who hid the Concordance of the Faithful Score there, and why would the man accused of defrauding a choral community go to the river to preserve one final volume?

In this episode, we trace the Concordance from a Clement Street bookstore flyer to Alan Walsh's Thurlow Mill Road farmhouse, the financial structure that moved $212,000, and the decision that led Kathleen Wilson to walk four miles at night to call for help without revealing her doubt.

Person: Kathleen Wilson
Person: Alan Walsh
Event: Volume IV found in oak root cavity
Date: March 4, 2019
Amount: $212,000

- Scott Parker discovered Volume IV of the Concordance of the Faithful Score wedged dry in an overcup oak root cavity on March 4, 2019.
- Alan Walsh ran workshops beginning January 2017 claiming Eastmore Conservatory training and a Vienna performance that institutions could not verify.
- Thirteen individuals deposited more than $212,000 into the Concordance Choral Institute account over eighteen months with withdrawals structured below reporting thresholds.
- On October 14, 2018 Kathleen walked four miles to a Route 9 gas station and texted her daughter asking her to call the sheriff while running water masked the typing.
- Walsh was arrested October 18, 2018 at a Calhoun motel where three volumes were recovered and within three weeks disclosed he had hidden the fourth volume in the Sable River roots.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1465falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/inside-the-freezer-glass-mason-jars-wax-sealed-dated-labeled-with-initials-and-a-number--73181460
A humming chest freezer sat on a concrete pad forty yards into the tree line off Gideon Mill Road, running on a 230-foot orange extension cord zip-tied to branches, and inside were thirty-one wax-sealed mason jars dated and labeled with member initials and a "cellular cycle" number. What was in those jars, who had authorized taking it, and how did a wellness program turn ordinary people into subjects of a cold, hidden archive?

In this episode, we trace the rise of the Restorative Body Institute and Charles Cooper from a Tuesday-night informational dinner to a twelve-acre compound where thirty-one people lived under sleep schedules vocabulary rules and tissue sampling protocols, and we follow how documents, a local reporter, and survivor Denise Thorpe pushed the case into a courtroom without revealing every detail of the verdicts.

Person: Charles Cooper
Organization: Restorative Body Institute
Location: Gideon Mill Road compound, Vellum County Indiana
Date: Freezer discovered September 14, 2018
Event: Search warrant executed September 12, 2018

- Frances Sanders, a Vellum County surveyor, found the chest freezer on a concrete pad forty yards into the tree line on September 14, 2018.
- The freezer was plugged in and maintained negative four degrees Fahrenheit via a 230-foot orange extension cord zip-tied to low branches back to the compound.
- Inside were thirty-one glass mason jars wax-sealed, dated, and labeled with member initials plus a typed adhesive label reading "cellular cycle" and a number.
- Over three years $412,000 moved from member accounts into Institute-controlled accounts in incremental transfers.
- DNA analysis eventually matched every sample in the jars to specific Institute members who had not known their tissue was being stored.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181460Sun, 06 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaInside the freezer: glass mason jars, wax-sealed, dated, labeled with initials and a number A humming chest freezer sat on a concrete pad forty yards into the tree line off Gideon Mill Road, running on a 230-foot orange extension cord zip-tied to...
A humming chest freezer sat on a concrete pad forty yards into the tree line off Gideon Mill Road, running on a 230-foot orange extension cord zip-tied to branches, and inside were thirty-one wax-sealed mason jars dated and labeled with member initials and a "cellular cycle" number. What was in those jars, who had authorized taking it, and how did a wellness program turn ordinary people into subjects of a cold, hidden archive?

In this episode, we trace the rise of the Restorative Body Institute and Charles Cooper from a Tuesday-night informational dinner to a twelve-acre compound where thirty-one people lived under sleep schedules vocabulary rules and tissue sampling protocols, and we follow how documents, a local reporter, and survivor Denise Thorpe pushed the case into a courtroom without revealing every detail of the verdicts.

Person: Charles Cooper
Organization: Restorative Body Institute
Location: Gideon Mill Road compound, Vellum County Indiana
Date: Freezer discovered September 14, 2018
Event: Search warrant executed September 12, 2018

- Frances Sanders, a Vellum County surveyor, found the chest freezer on a concrete pad forty yards into the tree line on September 14, 2018.
- The freezer was plugged in and maintained negative four degrees Fahrenheit via a 230-foot orange extension cord zip-tied to low branches back to the compound.
- Inside were thirty-one glass mason jars wax-sealed, dated, and labeled with member initials plus a typed adhesive label reading "cellular cycle" and a number.
- Over three years $412,000 moved from member accounts into Institute-controlled accounts in incremental transfers.
- DNA analysis eventually matched every sample in the jars to specific Institute members who had not known their tissue was being stored.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1236falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-title-printed-beneath-it-read-master-tier-fenwick-shift-brotherhood--73181458
A laminated ID badge floated face-up in dark water beneath a sealed concrete hatch at Hartley Packing on August 9, 2011, the photo still legible and the title beneath it reading MASTER TIER, FENWICK SHIFT BROTHERHOOD. That single object pulled at a thread: a small industrial fellowship, a secret fund, and a leader whose invented credentials and copied key built a closed world. How did a badge in a septic tank become the clue that exposed something much larger?

In this episode, we trace how Stanley Nelson created the Fenwick Shift Brotherhood inside Fenwick Consolidated Stamping, the development of the Tier Manual and Maintenance Fund, and the links to an earlier, similar scheme in Millford without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Stanley Nelson
Location: Hartley Packing, Fenwick Mill Road, Carver Township
Date: August 9, 2011
Organization: Fenwick Consolidated Tier LLC
Event: laminated "MASTER TIER" badge recovered from septic tank

- Brian Jensen opened a sealed concrete hatch at Hartley Packing and found the laminated ID badge on August 9, 2011.
- Nelson began at Fenwick Consolidated in September 2007 after a falsified transfer claim from Dellwood.
- The Brotherhood met three to six in the morning in a storage room using a copied master key acquired in 2008.
- Members paid forty dollars a week into a Maintenance Fund and Darlene Powell contributed $4,160 before leaving in February 2011.
- Nelson was arrested in October 2011, confessed in November 2011, and was convicted on eight counts of fraud and one count of theft by deception with an eleven-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181458Sat, 05 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe title printed beneath it read: MASTER TIER, FENWICK SHIFT BROTHERHOOD A laminated ID badge floated face-up in dark water beneath a sealed concrete hatch at Hartley Packing on August 9, 2011, the photo still legible and the title beneath it...
A laminated ID badge floated face-up in dark water beneath a sealed concrete hatch at Hartley Packing on August 9, 2011, the photo still legible and the title beneath it reading MASTER TIER, FENWICK SHIFT BROTHERHOOD. That single object pulled at a thread: a small industrial fellowship, a secret fund, and a leader whose invented credentials and copied key built a closed world. How did a badge in a septic tank become the clue that exposed something much larger?

In this episode, we trace how Stanley Nelson created the Fenwick Shift Brotherhood inside Fenwick Consolidated Stamping, the development of the Tier Manual and Maintenance Fund, and the links to an earlier, similar scheme in Millford without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Stanley Nelson
Location: Hartley Packing, Fenwick Mill Road, Carver Township
Date: August 9, 2011
Organization: Fenwick Consolidated Tier LLC
Event: laminated "MASTER TIER" badge recovered from septic tank

- Brian Jensen opened a sealed concrete hatch at Hartley Packing and found the laminated ID badge on August 9, 2011.
- Nelson began at Fenwick Consolidated in September 2007 after a falsified transfer claim from Dellwood.
- The Brotherhood met three to six in the morning in a storage room using a copied master key acquired in 2008.
- Members paid forty dollars a week into a Maintenance Fund and Darlene Powell contributed $4,160 before leaving in February 2011.
- Nelson was arrested in October 2011, confessed in November 2011, and was convicted on eight counts of fraud and one count of theft by deception with an eleven-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1193falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-found-a-white-three-ring-binder-wedged-in-the-fork-of-a-tree--73181457
Before six in the morning on July 14, 2019, a birdwatcher pushed through cottonwood brush along Dunbar Creek and found a white three-ring binder sealed in a waterproof map sleeve and wedged in the fork of a tree above the waterline. The binder was dry despite a flood four days earlier and contained forty-one handwritten letters that had never been sent - why would a thirty-two-year-old librarian hide her private correspondence in a creekside tree instead of mailing it?

In this episode, we trace Darlene Long’s two-year residency at the Bound Page Workshop, the slow financial and social pressures inside the farmhouse, and the investigative work that connected the director Brenda Russo to a pattern of fraudulent programs without spoils of publication.

Person: Darlene Long
Location: Dunbar Creek / Sycamore Bottoms, near Haverfield and Cutter Falls Nebraska
Organization: Bound Page Workshop / Millwork Press
Date: July 14, 2019
Event: binder with 41 handwritten unsent letters found

- The binder was found before 6:00 AM on July 14, 2019 wedged in a cottonwood fork and was dry despite floodwaters reaching within six feet four days earlier.
- Darlene Long, age 32, had paid the Workshop more than $26,000 over two years and arrived in March 2017 as one of eight residents.
- Outgoing mail from the farmhouse was reviewed by director Brenda Russo and phone calls were limited to Sunday afternoons in a shared room.
- Bank records at trial showed $212,000 moved from the Millwork Press Operating Account into Brenda Russo’s personal accounts between 2017 and 2019.
- On October 28, 2020 a Kincaid County jury convicted Brenda Russo on four counts including fraudulent solicitation and theft by deception and she was sentenced to six years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181457Fri, 04 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at Obomediaand found a white three-ring binder wedged in the fork of a tree Before six in the morning on July 14, 2019, a birdwatcher pushed through cottonwood brush along Dunbar Creek and found a white three-ring binder sealed in a waterproof map sleeve and...
Before six in the morning on July 14, 2019, a birdwatcher pushed through cottonwood brush along Dunbar Creek and found a white three-ring binder sealed in a waterproof map sleeve and wedged in the fork of a tree above the waterline. The binder was dry despite a flood four days earlier and contained forty-one handwritten letters that had never been sent - why would a thirty-two-year-old librarian hide her private correspondence in a creekside tree instead of mailing it?

In this episode, we trace Darlene Long’s two-year residency at the Bound Page Workshop, the slow financial and social pressures inside the farmhouse, and the investigative work that connected the director Brenda Russo to a pattern of fraudulent programs without spoils of publication.

Person: Darlene Long
Location: Dunbar Creek / Sycamore Bottoms, near Haverfield and Cutter Falls Nebraska
Organization: Bound Page Workshop / Millwork Press
Date: July 14, 2019
Event: binder with 41 handwritten unsent letters found

- The binder was found before 6:00 AM on July 14, 2019 wedged in a cottonwood fork and was dry despite floodwaters reaching within six feet four days earlier.
- Darlene Long, age 32, had paid the Workshop more than $26,000 over two years and arrived in March 2017 as one of eight residents.
- Outgoing mail from the farmhouse was reviewed by director Brenda Russo and phone calls were limited to Sunday afternoons in a shared room.
- Bank records at trial showed $212,000 moved from the Millwork Press Operating Account into Brenda Russo’s personal accounts between 2017 and 2019.
- On October 28, 2020 a Kincaid County jury convicted Brenda Russo on four counts including fraudulent solicitation and theft by deception and she was sentenced to six years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1315falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-standard-padlock-threaded-through-an-interior-latch-ring--73181456
A standard padlock threaded through an interior latch ring stopped deputies when they opened the hatch on June 14, 2011 - because the lock sat on the inside. Seventeen people had been living underground for seventeen months in a climate-controlled seed-storage unit that, from the outside, listed as vacant commercial storage and drew the electricity of an occupied house. How did a preparedness group become an enclosure no one noticed until a fourteen-year-old delivering newspapers saw a hatch she had never seen before?

In this episode, we trace Prepared Ground from a Lutheran church community room to the Proving Yard and finally to the Calloway Flats storage facility, following Janet Jenkins, Gordon Romano, and investigator James Harrison as a folded incorporation document and a utility bill unravel the group's architecture of control without a single chain or guard.

Person: Janet Jenkins
Person: Gordon Romano
Organization: Meridian Plains Holdings
Location: Calloway Flats industrial park, Denton County Nebraska
Date: June 14, 2011

- The hatch was opened by Denton County deputies on June 14, 2011 after a resident reported an unexpected surface opening.
- Janet Jenkins, age 51, had volunteered on the oncology ward and entered the underground facility in January 2010 for a six-month "Proving Period."
- Meridian Plains Holdings was incorporated in Wyoming in 2004 and held the power account drawing forty-two kilowatt-hours per day.
- Gordon Romano falsely claimed twelve years of federal emergency experience and had prior similar operations in 2003 and 2006.
- Seventeen members signed over a combined $231,000 in savings to Meridian Plains Holdings during the Proving Period.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181456Thu, 03 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaA standard padlock, threaded through an interior latch ring A standard padlock threaded through an interior latch ring stopped deputies when they opened the hatch on June 14, 2011 - because the lock sat on the inside. Seventeen people had been...
A standard padlock threaded through an interior latch ring stopped deputies when they opened the hatch on June 14, 2011 - because the lock sat on the inside. Seventeen people had been living underground for seventeen months in a climate-controlled seed-storage unit that, from the outside, listed as vacant commercial storage and drew the electricity of an occupied house. How did a preparedness group become an enclosure no one noticed until a fourteen-year-old delivering newspapers saw a hatch she had never seen before?

In this episode, we trace Prepared Ground from a Lutheran church community room to the Proving Yard and finally to the Calloway Flats storage facility, following Janet Jenkins, Gordon Romano, and investigator James Harrison as a folded incorporation document and a utility bill unravel the group's architecture of control without a single chain or guard.

Person: Janet Jenkins
Person: Gordon Romano
Organization: Meridian Plains Holdings
Location: Calloway Flats industrial park, Denton County Nebraska
Date: June 14, 2011

- The hatch was opened by Denton County deputies on June 14, 2011 after a resident reported an unexpected surface opening.
- Janet Jenkins, age 51, had volunteered on the oncology ward and entered the underground facility in January 2010 for a six-month "Proving Period."
- Meridian Plains Holdings was incorporated in Wyoming in 2004 and held the power account drawing forty-two kilowatt-hours per day.
- Gordon Romano falsely claimed twelve years of federal emergency experience and had prior similar operations in 2003 and 2006.
- Seventeen members signed over a combined $231,000 in savings to Meridian Plains Holdings during the Proving Period.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1426falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-the-man-who-had-tried-to-destroy-it-was-already-gone--73181453
A wax-sealed leather ledger, dry and intact in a waterlogged ditch after seventy-two hours of rain, turned up on Creston Loop Road and unspooled a five-year deception that had reshaped thirty-one lives. How did a man who presented himself as a genealogist build a research community, control its records, and convince careful people to hand him nearly half a million dollars before the ledger surfaced?

In this episode, we trace the rise and unraveling of the Hearthline Society through the ledger, the notebook dated 2003, and the actions of Philip Coleman and other members as investigators and a journalist closed the perimeter without revealing the full extent of what was taken.

Person: Vernon Underwood
Location: Creston Loop Road, Faber's Mill, Tennessee
Period: 2003-2011
Amount: $460,000
Event: leather ledger recovered and Vernon arrested July 14, 2011

- Sharon Bell found a wax-sealed leather ledger in a ditch at approximately 6:40 AM after seventy-two hours of rain in May 2011.
- Philip Coleman joined Hearthline in 2008 after attending Vernon’s talks and paid an $800 enrollment fee.
- Vernon ran daily five-thirty readings and kept a 112-page financial ledger locked in his private study.
- Ray Hollis photographed financial documents and delivered them to the Dellacourt County Sheriff before leaving the compound in April 2011.
- Vernon attempted to burn the ledger on May 9 2011 but left it in a waterlogged ditch where the wax seals preserved it and it was later recovered, leading to his arrest and confession.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181453Wed, 02 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaAnd the man who had tried to destroy it was already gone A wax-sealed leather ledger, dry and intact in a waterlogged ditch after seventy-two hours of rain, turned up on Creston Loop Road and unspooled a five-year deception that had reshaped...
A wax-sealed leather ledger, dry and intact in a waterlogged ditch after seventy-two hours of rain, turned up on Creston Loop Road and unspooled a five-year deception that had reshaped thirty-one lives. How did a man who presented himself as a genealogist build a research community, control its records, and convince careful people to hand him nearly half a million dollars before the ledger surfaced?

In this episode, we trace the rise and unraveling of the Hearthline Society through the ledger, the notebook dated 2003, and the actions of Philip Coleman and other members as investigators and a journalist closed the perimeter without revealing the full extent of what was taken.

Person: Vernon Underwood
Location: Creston Loop Road, Faber's Mill, Tennessee
Period: 2003-2011
Amount: $460,000
Event: leather ledger recovered and Vernon arrested July 14, 2011

- Sharon Bell found a wax-sealed leather ledger in a ditch at approximately 6:40 AM after seventy-two hours of rain in May 2011.
- Philip Coleman joined Hearthline in 2008 after attending Vernon’s talks and paid an $800 enrollment fee.
- Vernon ran daily five-thirty readings and kept a 112-page financial ledger locked in his private study.
- Ray Hollis photographed financial documents and delivered them to the Dellacourt County Sheriff before leaving the compound in April 2011.
- Vernon attempted to burn the ledger on May 9 2011 but left it in a waterlogged ditch where the wax seals preserved it and it was later recovered, leading to his arrest and confession.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1404falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-pulled-out-something-that-had-no-business-being-there--73181452
A utility lineman at the Galton County fairgrounds reached behind a dark transformer box on an April morning and pulled out a laminated binder - 312 pages, still intact after two nights of rain, its front cover holding a photograph of a smiling man at an airport departure board labeled April 3, 2019. How did a volunteer disaster-response group end up with a ledger shoved behind a utility panel and a founder trying to disappear with a six-figure wire transfer?

In this episode, we trace the rise and fall of Sentinel Relief Corps through the binder, local reporting, and court records - from Cynthia Callahan’s recruitment by Curtis Bennett to Holly Farrell’s seven-month investigation and the financial trail that revealed fraud without any deployments.

Person: Curtis Bennett
Organization: Sentinel Relief Corps
Person: Cynthia Callahan
Date: April 3, 2019
Location: Galton County fairgrounds

- The binder contained a 61-name Core Response roster with dollar amounts beside each member listed as "program service fees."
- Sentinel was incorporated in Missouri in 2014 and recorded four deployments in its first two years but registered zero declared deployments from Q1 2017 through 2018.
- Cynthia Callahan paid an "operational readiness fee" of $240 per month for eleven months and helped grade a private road across three consecutive weekends.
- Reporter Holly Farrell spent seven months building the paper trail before publishing on March 28, 2019 and connected false credentials and fabricated origin stories to Bennett.
- Bennett attempted a wire transfer of $214,000 to an account traced to Panama then flew toward Miami on April 3, 2019 and was detained at a Customs and Border Protection gate before clearing the airport.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181452Tue, 01 Sep 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at Obomediaand pulled out something that had no business being there A utility lineman at the Galton County fairgrounds reached behind a dark transformer box on an April morning and pulled out a laminated binder - 312 pages, still intact after two nights of...
A utility lineman at the Galton County fairgrounds reached behind a dark transformer box on an April morning and pulled out a laminated binder - 312 pages, still intact after two nights of rain, its front cover holding a photograph of a smiling man at an airport departure board labeled April 3, 2019. How did a volunteer disaster-response group end up with a ledger shoved behind a utility panel and a founder trying to disappear with a six-figure wire transfer?

In this episode, we trace the rise and fall of Sentinel Relief Corps through the binder, local reporting, and court records - from Cynthia Callahan’s recruitment by Curtis Bennett to Holly Farrell’s seven-month investigation and the financial trail that revealed fraud without any deployments.

Person: Curtis Bennett
Organization: Sentinel Relief Corps
Person: Cynthia Callahan
Date: April 3, 2019
Location: Galton County fairgrounds

- The binder contained a 61-name Core Response roster with dollar amounts beside each member listed as "program service fees."
- Sentinel was incorporated in Missouri in 2014 and recorded four deployments in its first two years but registered zero declared deployments from Q1 2017 through 2018.
- Cynthia Callahan paid an "operational readiness fee" of $240 per month for eleven months and helped grade a private road across three consecutive weekends.
- Reporter Holly Farrell spent seven months building the paper trail before publishing on March 28, 2019 and connected false credentials and fabricated origin stories to Bennett.
- Bennett attempted a wire transfer of $214,000 to an account traced to Panama then flew toward Miami on April 3, 2019 and was detained at a Customs and Border Protection gate before clearing the airport.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1184falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/snowmelt-had-pushed-the-water-fast-and-brown-for-days--73181451
A laminated three-ring binder, pages intact and wedged dry in the fork of a willow root above a swollen Kellum Creek, broke a quiet story into the open: seventy-four individually signed financial stewardship declarations that did not belong in a recovery house. How did a converted Victorian called Cedarvale become a place where self-disclosure became currency, and why did the binder survive a deliberate attempt to erase the paper trail?

In this episode, we follow the reporting and investigation that tied Leon Murphy - a man who called himself a "Sovereign Guide" - to four years of financial exploitation, fake credentials, and a deliberately curated library of residents' vulnerabilities, stopping short of one line while the creek revealed the rest.

Person: Leon Murphy
Location: Cedarvale Recovery House, Pryor Street, Dunmore
Date: Binder found March 11, 2019
Event: Seventy-four signed financial stewardship declarations recovered
Outcome: Arrest March 17, 2019 and 14-year sentence

- Brian Davis found the laminated binder dry in a willow root during a run twenty-two minutes in on March 11, 2019.
- The binder contained seventy-four individually signed financial stewardship declarations with the most recent dated March 4, 2019.
- Dennis Green of the Teller County Register uncovered that Murphy had no certification from the claimed Hargrove Center and no state counselor license.
- Investigators seized individual folders in the basement filing cabinet that included financial authorizations and submitted journals for all seventy-four residents.
- Sixteen resident folders contained a documented leverage inventory of personal disclosures organized by resident and maintained by Murphy.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181451Mon, 31 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaSnowmelt had pushed the water fast and brown for days A laminated three-ring binder, pages intact and wedged dry in the fork of a willow root above a swollen Kellum Creek, broke a quiet story into the open: seventy-four individually signed...
A laminated three-ring binder, pages intact and wedged dry in the fork of a willow root above a swollen Kellum Creek, broke a quiet story into the open: seventy-four individually signed financial stewardship declarations that did not belong in a recovery house. How did a converted Victorian called Cedarvale become a place where self-disclosure became currency, and why did the binder survive a deliberate attempt to erase the paper trail?

In this episode, we follow the reporting and investigation that tied Leon Murphy - a man who called himself a "Sovereign Guide" - to four years of financial exploitation, fake credentials, and a deliberately curated library of residents' vulnerabilities, stopping short of one line while the creek revealed the rest.

Person: Leon Murphy
Location: Cedarvale Recovery House, Pryor Street, Dunmore
Date: Binder found March 11, 2019
Event: Seventy-four signed financial stewardship declarations recovered
Outcome: Arrest March 17, 2019 and 14-year sentence

- Brian Davis found the laminated binder dry in a willow root during a run twenty-two minutes in on March 11, 2019.
- The binder contained seventy-four individually signed financial stewardship declarations with the most recent dated March 4, 2019.
- Dennis Green of the Teller County Register uncovered that Murphy had no certification from the claimed Hargrove Center and no state counselor license.
- Investigators seized individual folders in the basement filing cabinet that included financial authorizations and submitted journals for all seventy-four residents.
- Sixteen resident folders contained a documented leverage inventory of personal disclosures organized by resident and maintained by Murphy.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1368falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/tucked-into-the-groove-of-the-chair-was-a-laminated-id-badge--73181450
A child's wooden school desk, bolted into a cinder-block corridor behind a loading dock, held a laminated ID badge with a young woman's name and face - a deliberate placement that cracked open a residency that had been quietly dismantling the people inside it. How does a space built to foster art become an apparatus for extraction and control, and what does it mean when the legal paperwork appears to make that harm irreversible?

In this episode, we follow Pamela Stein into the Kilburn Works, the residency founded by Eric Edwards, and trace the methods he used - fabricated credentials, a 24/7 "relational schedule," engineered vocabulary, and a signed copyright transfer - without revealing the full outcomes for every resident.

Person: Pamela Stein
Organization: Kilburn Works
Person: Eric Edwards
Date: February 11, 2019
Location: Slattern Road converted textile factory

- Warren Donnelly, a meter reader on route fourteen, discovered the bolted child's desk on February 11, 2019 and reported it because the image would not let him keep walking.
- Pamela Stein arrived at the Kilburn Works in May 2017 and by August 2017 was averaging four hours and forty minutes of sleep per night under the residency's "relational schedule."
- The archive contribution clause signed by residents transferred copyright of all creations to Eric Edwards from week one of their residency.
- Investigators found forty-one finished works in a storage unit registered to Edwards that were not in the Works' official archive and were sold with proceeds routed to his personal account.
- Edwards bolted Pamela's specific childhood desk to a corridor wall and filed her laminated ID badge into its groove after she had mentioned the object in an integration session.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181450Sun, 30 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaTucked into the groove of the chair was a laminated ID badge A child's wooden school desk, bolted into a cinder-block corridor behind a loading dock, held a laminated ID badge with a young woman's name and face - a deliberate placement that cracked...
A child's wooden school desk, bolted into a cinder-block corridor behind a loading dock, held a laminated ID badge with a young woman's name and face - a deliberate placement that cracked open a residency that had been quietly dismantling the people inside it. How does a space built to foster art become an apparatus for extraction and control, and what does it mean when the legal paperwork appears to make that harm irreversible?

In this episode, we follow Pamela Stein into the Kilburn Works, the residency founded by Eric Edwards, and trace the methods he used - fabricated credentials, a 24/7 "relational schedule," engineered vocabulary, and a signed copyright transfer - without revealing the full outcomes for every resident.

Person: Pamela Stein
Organization: Kilburn Works
Person: Eric Edwards
Date: February 11, 2019
Location: Slattern Road converted textile factory

- Warren Donnelly, a meter reader on route fourteen, discovered the bolted child's desk on February 11, 2019 and reported it because the image would not let him keep walking.
- Pamela Stein arrived at the Kilburn Works in May 2017 and by August 2017 was averaging four hours and forty minutes of sleep per night under the residency's "relational schedule."
- The archive contribution clause signed by residents transferred copyright of all creations to Eric Edwards from week one of their residency.
- Investigators found forty-one finished works in a storage unit registered to Edwards that were not in the Works' official archive and were sold with proceeds routed to his personal account.
- Edwards bolted Pamela's specific childhood desk to a corridor wall and filed her laminated ID badge into its groove after she had mentioned the object in an integration session.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1209falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-yellow-wooden-kitchen-chair-sat-upright-in-a-frozen-ditch-off-route-12--73181449
A yellow wooden chair, a battery-powered radio with its red light still glowing, and a steaming coffee mug were found upright in an eleven-degree ditch on January 9, 2014 - a staged scene that led deputies to an empty farmhouse with twenty-two beds and laminated schedules nailed to the walls. Who left the chair and the still-transmitting radio as a message, and what did that last, quiet gesture mean for the people who walked away?

In this episode, we trace how Todd Collins built the Clear Signal Covenant from a late-night AM program into a leased Nebraska compound, how Donna Bailey moved from bowling leagues to signing away financial control, and how a reporter’s investigation unraveled a pattern refined over decades without revealing every motive.

Person: Donna Bailey
Organization: Clear Signal Covenant
Person: Todd Collins
Date: January 9, 2014
Location: Harmon agricultural lease, Alderton County Nebraska

- Wayne Sheridan found the yellow chair on the shoulder of Route 12 at 7:15 AM on January 9, 2014 with a radio antenna extended and a steaming coffee mug on its armrest.
- Inside the Harmon property deputies found twenty-two bedrolls, a pot of congealed oatmeal, laminated daily schedules, and a wall calendar with every date crossed through January 8.
- Donna Bailey first called The Signal in February 2004 and mailed a four-page letter in March 2004 that Collins later used as an early loyalty test.
- Donna signed a Stewardship Commitment in January 2008 transferring more than $11,000 in savings and stopped returning calls from longtime friends in late 2007.
- Todd Collins was convicted in September 2016 of seven counts of wire fraud and two counts of financial exploitation and was sentenced to fourteen years after Donna testified for two and a half hours.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181449Sat, 29 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaA yellow wooden kitchen chair sat upright in a frozen ditch off Route 12 A yellow wooden chair, a battery-powered radio with its red light still glowing, and a steaming coffee mug were found upright in an eleven-degree ditch on January 9, 2014 - a...
A yellow wooden chair, a battery-powered radio with its red light still glowing, and a steaming coffee mug were found upright in an eleven-degree ditch on January 9, 2014 - a staged scene that led deputies to an empty farmhouse with twenty-two beds and laminated schedules nailed to the walls. Who left the chair and the still-transmitting radio as a message, and what did that last, quiet gesture mean for the people who walked away?

In this episode, we trace how Todd Collins built the Clear Signal Covenant from a late-night AM program into a leased Nebraska compound, how Donna Bailey moved from bowling leagues to signing away financial control, and how a reporter’s investigation unraveled a pattern refined over decades without revealing every motive.

Person: Donna Bailey
Organization: Clear Signal Covenant
Person: Todd Collins
Date: January 9, 2014
Location: Harmon agricultural lease, Alderton County Nebraska

- Wayne Sheridan found the yellow chair on the shoulder of Route 12 at 7:15 AM on January 9, 2014 with a radio antenna extended and a steaming coffee mug on its armrest.
- Inside the Harmon property deputies found twenty-two bedrolls, a pot of congealed oatmeal, laminated daily schedules, and a wall calendar with every date crossed through January 8.
- Donna Bailey first called The Signal in February 2004 and mailed a four-page letter in March 2004 that Collins later used as an early loyalty test.
- Donna signed a Stewardship Commitment in January 2008 transferring more than $11,000 in savings and stopped returning calls from longtime friends in late 2007.
- Todd Collins was convicted in September 2016 of seven counts of wire fraud and two counts of financial exploitation and was sentenced to fourteen years after Donna testified for two and a half hours.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1461falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/eleven-consecutive-days-of-rain-had-soaked-dellwood-state-forest--73181447
A bone-dry red spiral-bound notebook turned up on a rain-soaked trail on December 9, 2019 - its cover inscribed "Property of Caleb, Foundations Track, Year Two." The impossibly dry condition and the notebook's careful placement pulled investigators from a forest shelf to a dead-end road called Aldercrest and into a community that looked like a neighborhood but functioned like a sealed system. Who had built the Foundations Collective and what had they been hiding behind tidy ledgers and laminated binders?

In this episode, we trace the trail from a found notebook to Ralph Cook's Foundations Collective, follow Ruth Reed's move to Aldercrest with her granddaughter, and reconstruct Caleb Ostrander's secret months of recording and the plan that exposed a manufactured curriculum without revealing the entire end of the trial.

Person: Caleb Ostrander
Location: Aldercrest Road, Harwick Falls, Oregon
Date: December 9, 2019 (notebook found)
Organization: Foundations Collective
Event: Trial and conviction (September following year)

- The notebook was placed on a rock shelf under an overhang in Dellwood State Forest on the night of December 7, 2019 and remained bone dry after eleven days of rain.
- Ralph Cook had rented a climate-controlled storage unit since 2012 that contained hundreds of sealed red laminated notebooks a portable heat lamp and a professional document dryer.
- Ruth Reed, a 55-year-old former bookkeeper, moved to Aldercrest in summer 2014 and managed the Education Fund ledger with a recurring withdrawal category labeled "Framework Development."
- Forensic analysis during the trial showed the Whitmore University credential in Cook's Foundations Framework binder was printed on a home inkjet using a retired university logo.
- Ralph Cook was convicted on eleven counts including fraud and unlawful confinement and sentenced to sixteen years while the unopened notebooks were later donated to a school district.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181447Fri, 28 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaEleven consecutive days of rain had soaked Dellwood State Forest A bone-dry red spiral-bound notebook turned up on a rain-soaked trail on December 9, 2019 - its cover inscribed "Property of Caleb, Foundations Track, Year Two." The impossibly dry...
A bone-dry red spiral-bound notebook turned up on a rain-soaked trail on December 9, 2019 - its cover inscribed "Property of Caleb, Foundations Track, Year Two." The impossibly dry condition and the notebook's careful placement pulled investigators from a forest shelf to a dead-end road called Aldercrest and into a community that looked like a neighborhood but functioned like a sealed system. Who had built the Foundations Collective and what had they been hiding behind tidy ledgers and laminated binders?

In this episode, we trace the trail from a found notebook to Ralph Cook's Foundations Collective, follow Ruth Reed's move to Aldercrest with her granddaughter, and reconstruct Caleb Ostrander's secret months of recording and the plan that exposed a manufactured curriculum without revealing the entire end of the trial.

Person: Caleb Ostrander
Location: Aldercrest Road, Harwick Falls, Oregon
Date: December 9, 2019 (notebook found)
Organization: Foundations Collective
Event: Trial and conviction (September following year)

- The notebook was placed on a rock shelf under an overhang in Dellwood State Forest on the night of December 7, 2019 and remained bone dry after eleven days of rain.
- Ralph Cook had rented a climate-controlled storage unit since 2012 that contained hundreds of sealed red laminated notebooks a portable heat lamp and a professional document dryer.
- Ruth Reed, a 55-year-old former bookkeeper, moved to Aldercrest in summer 2014 and managed the Education Fund ledger with a recurring withdrawal category labeled "Framework Development."
- Forensic analysis during the trial showed the Whitmore University credential in Cook's Foundations Framework binder was printed on a home inkjet using a retired university logo.
- Ralph Cook was convicted on eleven counts including fraud and unlawful confinement and sentenced to sixteen years while the unopened notebooks were later donated to a school district.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1415falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-found-something-that-had-no-business-being-there--73181444
A commercial fisherman pulled a crab trap from Heron Slough on November 14, 2019 and found a waterproof pouch containing forty-seven signed promissory notes, bone dry despite the marsh water. Each note named a different member of a coastal cooperative and recorded debts between $12,000 and $31,000 - the most recent dated nine days earlier. Who sealed those records for water and why were some documents burned while others were preserved and sent into the tidal system?

In this episode, we trace the rise and collapse of Briar Sound, the cooperative run by Bruce Ford, and follow Curtis Hansen’s experience from the Portsmith pier to the morning he left with two changes of clothes. We examine the pouch, the bank statements showing $48,000 diverted to Ford, the civil complaint that opened the investigation, and how those pieces converged to reveal a pattern of fraudulent inducement.

Person: Curtis Hansen
Person: Bruce Ford
Location: Briar Sound property near Portsmith Georgia
Date: November 14, 2019
Event: forty-seven promissory notes recovered in waterproof pouch

- Steven White recovered a sealed waterproof pouch from a crab trap in Heron Slough on November 14, 2019 containing forty-seven signed promissory notes.
- The notes recorded debts ranging from $12,000 to $31,000 and the most recent was dated November 5, 2019.
- Over eighteen months Bruce Ford transferred $48,000 from the Harvest Reserve into his personal checking account according to bank statements used by attorney Marcus Byrd.
- Lisa Crane filed a civil complaint with the Georgia Secretary of State in October 2019 alleging the promised oyster lease never existed and prompting investigators to obtain bank records.
- Bruce Ford was arrested on November 19, 2019 charged with multiple counts of fraudulent inducement and later pleaded guilty and received an eleven year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181444Thu, 27 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at Obomediaand found something that had no business being there A commercial fisherman pulled a crab trap from Heron Slough on November 14, 2019 and found a waterproof pouch containing forty-seven signed promissory notes, bone dry despite the marsh water....
A commercial fisherman pulled a crab trap from Heron Slough on November 14, 2019 and found a waterproof pouch containing forty-seven signed promissory notes, bone dry despite the marsh water. Each note named a different member of a coastal cooperative and recorded debts between $12,000 and $31,000 - the most recent dated nine days earlier. Who sealed those records for water and why were some documents burned while others were preserved and sent into the tidal system?

In this episode, we trace the rise and collapse of Briar Sound, the cooperative run by Bruce Ford, and follow Curtis Hansen’s experience from the Portsmith pier to the morning he left with two changes of clothes. We examine the pouch, the bank statements showing $48,000 diverted to Ford, the civil complaint that opened the investigation, and how those pieces converged to reveal a pattern of fraudulent inducement.

Person: Curtis Hansen
Person: Bruce Ford
Location: Briar Sound property near Portsmith Georgia
Date: November 14, 2019
Event: forty-seven promissory notes recovered in waterproof pouch

- Steven White recovered a sealed waterproof pouch from a crab trap in Heron Slough on November 14, 2019 containing forty-seven signed promissory notes.
- The notes recorded debts ranging from $12,000 to $31,000 and the most recent was dated November 5, 2019.
- Over eighteen months Bruce Ford transferred $48,000 from the Harvest Reserve into his personal checking account according to bank statements used by attorney Marcus Byrd.
- Lisa Crane filed a civil complaint with the Georgia Secretary of State in October 2019 alleging the promised oyster lease never existed and prompting investigators to obtain bank records.
- Bruce Ford was arrested on November 19, 2019 charged with multiple counts of fraudulent inducement and later pleaded guilty and received an eleven year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1313falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-river-stone-held-forty-one-handwritten-pages-flat-against-its-surface--73181443
A cast-iron school desk sat alone in a rain-soaked clearing, its surface weighted by a river stone and forty-one pages of handwriting in a language no university recognized. When county surveyor Angela Snyder found the dry pages after two nights of heavy rain she set in motion an investigation that revealed a constructed language, a fabricated credential, and a disappearing community - but why leave a dry, weighted record in the open for someone to find?

In this episode, we trace how Wade Simpson built the Verath Institute from a library lecture to a rural compound using a made-up doctorate and a deliberate language-isolation protocol, and we follow the evidence from the desk in the clearing to the courtroom without revealing every moment of the unraveling.

Person: Wade Simpson
Organization: Verath Institute LLC
Location: Cassen County property and clearing
Event: forty-one handwritten pages in a constructed language
Date: discovery by Angela Snyder after heavy rain

- Angela Snyder, a Cassen County surveyor, found a cast-iron school desk in a clearing with forty-one pages held flat by a river stone after two nights of heavy rain.
- A university linguist confirmed the pages were written in an internally consistent constructed language called Verath with at least two development stages.
- Gordon McCarthy attended a library lecture by Wade Simpson, stopped speaking English for fourteen months, and contributed roughly $19,000 over twenty-two months.
- Investigators recovered a forty-page handwritten journal in Simpson’s hand describing the fabricated doctorate and the sleep-reduction plus linguistic-isolation method.
- Simpson pled guilty and received a fourteen-year sentence on six counts including fraud, unlawful confinement, and financial exploitation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181443Wed, 26 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaA river stone held forty-one handwritten pages flat against its surface A cast-iron school desk sat alone in a rain-soaked clearing, its surface weighted by a river stone and forty-one pages of handwriting in a language no university recognized....
A cast-iron school desk sat alone in a rain-soaked clearing, its surface weighted by a river stone and forty-one pages of handwriting in a language no university recognized. When county surveyor Angela Snyder found the dry pages after two nights of heavy rain she set in motion an investigation that revealed a constructed language, a fabricated credential, and a disappearing community - but why leave a dry, weighted record in the open for someone to find?

In this episode, we trace how Wade Simpson built the Verath Institute from a library lecture to a rural compound using a made-up doctorate and a deliberate language-isolation protocol, and we follow the evidence from the desk in the clearing to the courtroom without revealing every moment of the unraveling.

Person: Wade Simpson
Organization: Verath Institute LLC
Location: Cassen County property and clearing
Event: forty-one handwritten pages in a constructed language
Date: discovery by Angela Snyder after heavy rain

- Angela Snyder, a Cassen County surveyor, found a cast-iron school desk in a clearing with forty-one pages held flat by a river stone after two nights of heavy rain.
- A university linguist confirmed the pages were written in an internally consistent constructed language called Verath with at least two development stages.
- Gordon McCarthy attended a library lecture by Wade Simpson, stopped speaking English for fourteen months, and contributed roughly $19,000 over twenty-two months.
- Investigators recovered a forty-page handwritten journal in Simpson’s hand describing the fabricated doctorate and the sleep-reduction plus linguistic-isolation method.
- Simpson pled guilty and received a fourteen-year sentence on six counts including fraud, unlawful confinement, and financial exploitation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1522falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-trunk-was-still-there-when-grant-webb-arrived--73181442
A dark green dome-lidded trunk, initialed A.R.C. and sealed with a polyethylene vapor barrier, sat in a wet field in Braden County on the morning of September 14, 2009 - its interior dry and perfectly labeled with forty sets of identity documents belonging to real people. Why had a traveling theater company converted their costumes trunk into a weatherproof archive of members' IDs and then left it exposed on private land?

In this episode, we trace how the Aldgate traveling theater collective became a coercive system under leader Megan Fisher, follow Karen Casey's escape five days before the trunk was discovered, and reconstruct the decisions that turned personal documents into leverage without revealing every answer.

Person: Karen Casey (Elara)
Person: Margaret Fissner / Megan Fisher
Date: September 14, 2009
Location: Braden County, Virginia
Event: trunk found containing identity documents

- Grant Webb discovered the dark green trunk at 8:47 AM on September 14, 2009 while inspecting an unreported septic tank on private land.
- The trunk's exterior was wet with morning dew while the interior remained dry because Fisher had lined it with polyethylene and matched felt in spring 2009.
- Karen Casey walked off the Aldgate property alone at 4:00 AM on September 9, 2009 and walked three miles to a pay phone before contacting her family.
- Margaret Fissner was arrested on October 3, 2009 at a motel outside Fredericksburg and later convicted on eleven counts in April 2010, receiving a nine-year sentence in July 2010.
- Investigators found approximately forty sets of photocopied identity documents in the trunk including at least eleven current or former members and at least two people who had been reported missing by family members.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181442Tue, 25 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe trunk was still there when Grant Webb arrived A dark green dome-lidded trunk, initialed A.R.C. and sealed with a polyethylene vapor barrier, sat in a wet field in Braden County on the morning of September 14, 2009 - its interior dry and...
A dark green dome-lidded trunk, initialed A.R.C. and sealed with a polyethylene vapor barrier, sat in a wet field in Braden County on the morning of September 14, 2009 - its interior dry and perfectly labeled with forty sets of identity documents belonging to real people. Why had a traveling theater company converted their costumes trunk into a weatherproof archive of members' IDs and then left it exposed on private land?

In this episode, we trace how the Aldgate traveling theater collective became a coercive system under leader Megan Fisher, follow Karen Casey's escape five days before the trunk was discovered, and reconstruct the decisions that turned personal documents into leverage without revealing every answer.

Person: Karen Casey (Elara)
Person: Margaret Fissner / Megan Fisher
Date: September 14, 2009
Location: Braden County, Virginia
Event: trunk found containing identity documents

- Grant Webb discovered the dark green trunk at 8:47 AM on September 14, 2009 while inspecting an unreported septic tank on private land.
- The trunk's exterior was wet with morning dew while the interior remained dry because Fisher had lined it with polyethylene and matched felt in spring 2009.
- Karen Casey walked off the Aldgate property alone at 4:00 AM on September 9, 2009 and walked three miles to a pay phone before contacting her family.
- Margaret Fissner was arrested on October 3, 2009 at a motel outside Fredericksburg and later convicted on eleven counts in April 2010, receiving a nine-year sentence in July 2010.
- Investigators found approximately forty sets of photocopied identity documents in the trunk including at least eleven current or former members and at least two people who had been reported missing by family members.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1416falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-was-looking-for-a-yellow-throated-warbler-he-had-spotted-the-week-before--73181441
On the morning of August 11, 2009, Charles Thorpe walked a gravel service road with binoculars and instead found a rusted shed with a folding table holding forty-seven immaculate binders and a recently cut silver padlock beside them. What did those neat ledgers hide, and how did a system of careful record-keeping become the instrument of a long, patient deception?

In this episode, we trace the Callum Flats scheme led by Carl Eugene Tate, the recruitment of grieving and practical men like Frank Walker, and the two-column ledger system that masked transfers into a private account without altering the members' apparent records.

Person: Carl Eugene Tate
Location: Callum Flats, Hardeman County Tennessee
Date: August 11, 2009 (binders found)
Event: TBI arrest and conviction
Status: Convicted (nine counts; nine-year sentence)

- Charles Thorpe photographed forty-seven neatly labeled binders on a folding table inside a rusted equipment shed on August 11, 2009.
- Frank Walker contributed $11,000 to Callum Flats in September 2007 after reviewing the same binders that later revealed penciled discrepancies.
- Loretta Pruitt maintained the ledgers from about 2003 and logged ink figures alongside penciled, approximately 40% lower, entries on Tate's instruction.
- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested Carl Eugene Tate on August 4, 2009 charging eight counts of wire fraud and one count of theft by deception leading to a nine-year sentence.
- The forty-seven binders remain in evidence storage at the Hardeman County Sheriff's Office.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181441Mon, 24 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe was looking for a yellow-throated warbler he had spotted the week before On the morning of August 11, 2009, Charles Thorpe walked a gravel service road with binoculars and instead found a rusted shed with a folding table holding forty-seven...
On the morning of August 11, 2009, Charles Thorpe walked a gravel service road with binoculars and instead found a rusted shed with a folding table holding forty-seven immaculate binders and a recently cut silver padlock beside them. What did those neat ledgers hide, and how did a system of careful record-keeping become the instrument of a long, patient deception?

In this episode, we trace the Callum Flats scheme led by Carl Eugene Tate, the recruitment of grieving and practical men like Frank Walker, and the two-column ledger system that masked transfers into a private account without altering the members' apparent records.

Person: Carl Eugene Tate
Location: Callum Flats, Hardeman County Tennessee
Date: August 11, 2009 (binders found)
Event: TBI arrest and conviction
Status: Convicted (nine counts; nine-year sentence)

- Charles Thorpe photographed forty-seven neatly labeled binders on a folding table inside a rusted equipment shed on August 11, 2009.
- Frank Walker contributed $11,000 to Callum Flats in September 2007 after reviewing the same binders that later revealed penciled discrepancies.
- Loretta Pruitt maintained the ledgers from about 2003 and logged ink figures alongside penciled, approximately 40% lower, entries on Tate's instruction.
- The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation arrested Carl Eugene Tate on August 4, 2009 charging eight counts of wire fraud and one count of theft by deception leading to a nine-year sentence.
- The forty-seven binders remain in evidence storage at the Hardeman County Sheriff's Office.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1322falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/yellow-gray-fabric-buckled-closed-sitting-on-an-empty-loading-dock-in-the-july-heat--73181440
A yellow-gray child car seat, clean and buckled, sat alone on a loading dock in July - a staged prop placed to trigger a bereaved parent during an immersion weekend. How did a man fabricate a dead daughter, rehearse a drowning, and use a photograph cut from a 2013 magazine to recruit grieving people into giving savings and property to the Renewal Path?

In this episode, we follow Rachel Sharp and other members from a Tuesday grief group to the Renewal Path farmhouse, trace Dennis Paar's alias "Dean Petersen," and lay out the evidence prosecutors used to show the recruitment, the scripted story, and the financial transfers without revealing every courtroom detail.

Person: Rachel Sharp
Person: Dennis Paar (alias Dean Petersen)
Location: Dunmore, Maret County; farmhouse on Clement Street
Event: cardboard box discovery in a warehouse basement
Date: July 2018 (basement leak) and July 14, 2019 (car seat found)
Status: Convicted - sentence eleven years

- Rachel Sharp began attending a Tuesday grief group after her brother Kevin died and noticed Petersen waiting in the parking lot after meetings.
- Petersen introduced terms like "residue" and "threshold work" and organized weekend immersion sessions at a farmhouse by October 2017.
- The locked cabinet replaced a voluntary phone basket and by June 2018 fees rose from $60 to $180 and members liquidated assets.
- Building manager Roy Sievert found a cardboard box in the basement containing a draft script, a magazine photograph of a girl printed 2013, and documents linking the alias to Dennis Paar.
- The jury convicted on all counts after prosecutors showed the photograph was used as a fabricated daughter and the recruitment plan targeted grieving adults for financial transfers.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181440Sun, 23 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaYellow-gray fabric, buckled closed, sitting on an empty loading dock in the July heat A yellow-gray child car seat, clean and buckled, sat alone on a loading dock in July - a staged prop placed to trigger a bereaved parent during an immersion...
A yellow-gray child car seat, clean and buckled, sat alone on a loading dock in July - a staged prop placed to trigger a bereaved parent during an immersion weekend. How did a man fabricate a dead daughter, rehearse a drowning, and use a photograph cut from a 2013 magazine to recruit grieving people into giving savings and property to the Renewal Path?

In this episode, we follow Rachel Sharp and other members from a Tuesday grief group to the Renewal Path farmhouse, trace Dennis Paar's alias "Dean Petersen," and lay out the evidence prosecutors used to show the recruitment, the scripted story, and the financial transfers without revealing every courtroom detail.

Person: Rachel Sharp
Person: Dennis Paar (alias Dean Petersen)
Location: Dunmore, Maret County; farmhouse on Clement Street
Event: cardboard box discovery in a warehouse basement
Date: July 2018 (basement leak) and July 14, 2019 (car seat found)
Status: Convicted - sentence eleven years

- Rachel Sharp began attending a Tuesday grief group after her brother Kevin died and noticed Petersen waiting in the parking lot after meetings.
- Petersen introduced terms like "residue" and "threshold work" and organized weekend immersion sessions at a farmhouse by October 2017.
- The locked cabinet replaced a voluntary phone basket and by June 2018 fees rose from $60 to $180 and members liquidated assets.
- Building manager Roy Sievert found a cardboard box in the basement containing a draft script, a magazine photograph of a girl printed 2013, and documents linking the alias to Dennis Paar.
- The jury convicted on all counts after prosecutors showed the photograph was used as a fabricated daughter and the recruitment plan targeted grieving adults for financial transfers.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1465falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/not-warm-the-way-metal-gets-in-summer-sun--73181439
A small fireproof safe, found warm in a roadside culvert the morning after a farmhouse burned, held forty-one unsent letters, a laminated card with a date, and a photograph that would unravel a closed community. Who carried those documents out in the dark and why did that safe - never logged in the fire inventory - end up off County Route 9 with heat still in its metal?

In this episode, we trace how Ross Ramsey built the Meridian Path, how fourteen adults surrendered passports and savings to a supposed stewardship fund, and how one woman's decision to hide and later place a safe in a culvert preserved the record that opened an arson and murder case without revealing every motive.

Person: Jennifer Thompson
Group: The Meridian Path
Location: Varden property outside Pellen Township
Date: June 3-14, 2009
Event: farmhouse fire and safe found

- Jean Sullivan found the shoebox-sized fireproof safe in the County Route 9 culvert at 7:22 AM on June 14, 2009.
- Inside the safe were forty-one handwritten letters from Jennifer Thompson a laminated card reading "The Crossing - June 3, 2009" and a photograph of Ross Ramsey in front of a chalkboard.
- Fourteen adults transferred a total of $63,000 to the Varden Stewardship Fund and placed passports and identity documents into a safe controlled by Ramsey.
- Ross Ramsey confessed to setting the Varden farmhouse fire and was later linked by DNA to a 2003 barn fire that killed Harold Sims in Moultrie County.
- A routine soil sample from the Varden south barn matched an accelerant from the Moultrie County fire and Ramsey’s DNA matched a partial profile from a work glove at that earlier scene.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181439Sat, 22 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaNot warm the way metal gets in summer sun A small fireproof safe, found warm in a roadside culvert the morning after a farmhouse burned, held forty-one unsent letters, a laminated card with a date, and a photograph that would unravel a closed...
A small fireproof safe, found warm in a roadside culvert the morning after a farmhouse burned, held forty-one unsent letters, a laminated card with a date, and a photograph that would unravel a closed community. Who carried those documents out in the dark and why did that safe - never logged in the fire inventory - end up off County Route 9 with heat still in its metal?

In this episode, we trace how Ross Ramsey built the Meridian Path, how fourteen adults surrendered passports and savings to a supposed stewardship fund, and how one woman's decision to hide and later place a safe in a culvert preserved the record that opened an arson and murder case without revealing every motive.

Person: Jennifer Thompson
Group: The Meridian Path
Location: Varden property outside Pellen Township
Date: June 3-14, 2009
Event: farmhouse fire and safe found

- Jean Sullivan found the shoebox-sized fireproof safe in the County Route 9 culvert at 7:22 AM on June 14, 2009.
- Inside the safe were forty-one handwritten letters from Jennifer Thompson a laminated card reading "The Crossing - June 3, 2009" and a photograph of Ross Ramsey in front of a chalkboard.
- Fourteen adults transferred a total of $63,000 to the Varden Stewardship Fund and placed passports and identity documents into a safe controlled by Ramsey.
- Ross Ramsey confessed to setting the Varden farmhouse fire and was later linked by DNA to a 2003 barn fire that killed Harold Sims in Moultrie County.
- A routine soil sample from the Varden south barn matched an accelerant from the Moultrie County fire and Ramsey’s DNA matched a partial profile from a work glove at that earlier scene.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1252falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-six-forty-in-the-morning-on-may-eleventh--73181437
A lineman finds a rural gate cut and coiled neatly on its post and, beyond it, a dining table set in an open field with eleven chairs pushed back at identical angles and untouched plates - a staged scene that marks the end of two years on a Tennessee farm and the unraveling of a carefully engineered fraud. Who choreographed the evacuation and why leave such an obvious tableau for anyone who might arrive first?

In this episode, we trace how Grant Rafferty moved from a forty-minute parking-lot conversation to control of Dixon family finances, how engineered documents and precisely timed transfers financed a self-styled covenant, and how one woman’s four-mile night walk exposed the operation without resolving what its survivors carried afterward.

Person: Grant Rafferty
Person: Nicole Dixon
Location: Pellham County, Tennessee
Event: staged outdoor meal discovered May 11, 2019
Amount: $421,400

- Todd Hughes called 911 at 6:53 AM on May 11, 2019 after finding a table set for eleven in an open field with no forks used.
- Forty-three disbursements totaling $421,400 were moved from Dixon Brothers accounts in $9,800 increments to invoices for Covenant Supply Partners.
- Spectroscopic analysis matched the Covenant Supply Partners invoices to a printer recovered from the Pellham County property registered to Pellham Agrarian LLC.
- A Virginia theological institution confirmed it had no record of Grant Rafferty despite a forged letterhead and dean's signature used to claim seminary credentials.
- Nicole Dixon walked four miles in the dark around 2:00 AM on May 11, 2019 to reach a highway after refusing to leave during the covenant's final staged evacuation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181437Fri, 21 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt six forty in the morning on May eleventh A lineman finds a rural gate cut and coiled neatly on its post and, beyond it, a dining table set in an open field with eleven chairs pushed back at identical angles and untouched plates - a staged scene...
A lineman finds a rural gate cut and coiled neatly on its post and, beyond it, a dining table set in an open field with eleven chairs pushed back at identical angles and untouched plates - a staged scene that marks the end of two years on a Tennessee farm and the unraveling of a carefully engineered fraud. Who choreographed the evacuation and why leave such an obvious tableau for anyone who might arrive first?

In this episode, we trace how Grant Rafferty moved from a forty-minute parking-lot conversation to control of Dixon family finances, how engineered documents and precisely timed transfers financed a self-styled covenant, and how one woman’s four-mile night walk exposed the operation without resolving what its survivors carried afterward.

Person: Grant Rafferty
Person: Nicole Dixon
Location: Pellham County, Tennessee
Event: staged outdoor meal discovered May 11, 2019
Amount: $421,400

- Todd Hughes called 911 at 6:53 AM on May 11, 2019 after finding a table set for eleven in an open field with no forks used.
- Forty-three disbursements totaling $421,400 were moved from Dixon Brothers accounts in $9,800 increments to invoices for Covenant Supply Partners.
- Spectroscopic analysis matched the Covenant Supply Partners invoices to a printer recovered from the Pellham County property registered to Pellham Agrarian LLC.
- A Virginia theological institution confirmed it had no record of Grant Rafferty despite a forged letterhead and dean's signature used to claim seminary credentials.
- Nicole Dixon walked four miles in the dark around 2:00 AM on May 11, 2019 to reach a highway after refusing to leave during the covenant's final staged evacuation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1309falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/in-the-middle-of-a-saturated-gravel-path--73181436
A steel-framed laundry cart sat bone dry on a waterlogged service road after three days of Tennessee spring rain; inside were eleven hand-stitched white linen tunics each marked with a small blue circle at the left collar - a symbol familiar only to residents of a nearby converted farmstead. What did a runner’s discovery of identical garments reveal about a program that removed phones, narrowed vocabulary, and made people unreachable?

In this episode, we trace the Ardmore Clarity Program and its facilitator Glenn Christensen through the eyes of residents, worried relatives, and the journalist who flagged irregularities, following the cart from a preserve path to the sheriff’s evidence locker without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Charles Ward
Organization: Ardmore House / Meridian Continuance Track
Date: April 14, 2019
Location: Ardmore Valley Agricultural Preserve and Ardmore House, Keswick County
Status: Criminal plea and sentencing

- Frank Peterson found the dry institutional laundry cart on the service road at approximately 5:40 AM on April 14, 2019 and called the sheriff's department.
- Inside the cart were eleven knee-length white linen tunics hand-stitched with a small blue circle at the left collar introduced about two years into the program.
- Charles Ward paid $2,400 in January 2019 for a twelve-day Ardmore Clarity Program and was found on the property on April 14, 2019 on day seventy-nine of his stay.
- Thomas Vail, age sixty-one, transferred $22,000 to Ardmore House Partners LLC in four payments and civil proceedings recovered approximately $14,000.
- Glenn Christensen pleaded guilty in September 2019 and was sentenced to nine years while the eleven tunics remain logged as evidence at the Keswick County Sheriff's Department.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181436Thu, 20 Aug 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaIn the middle of a saturated gravel path A steel-framed laundry cart sat bone dry on a waterlogged service road after three days of Tennessee spring rain; inside were eleven hand-stitched white linen tunics each marked with a small blue circle at...
A steel-framed laundry cart sat bone dry on a waterlogged service road after three days of Tennessee spring rain; inside were eleven hand-stitched white linen tunics each marked with a small blue circle at the left collar - a symbol familiar only to residents of a nearby converted farmstead. What did a runner’s discovery of identical garments reveal about a program that removed phones, narrowed vocabulary, and made people unreachable?

In this episode, we trace the Ardmore Clarity Program and its facilitator Glenn Christensen through the eyes of residents, worried relatives, and the journalist who flagged irregularities, following the cart from a preserve path to the sheriff’s evidence locker without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Charles Ward
Organization: Ardmore House / Meridian Continuance Track
Date: April 14, 2019
Location: Ardmore Valley Agricultural Preserve and Ardmore House, Keswick County
Status: Criminal plea and sentencing

- Frank Peterson found the dry institutional laundry cart on the service road at approximately 5:40 AM on April 14, 2019 and called the sheriff's department.
- Inside the cart were eleven knee-length white linen tunics hand-stitched with a small blue circle at the left collar introduced about two years into the program.
- Charles Ward paid $2,400 in January 2019 for a twelve-day Ardmore Clarity Program and was found on the property on April 14, 2019 on day seventy-nine of his stay.
- Thomas Vail, age sixty-one, transferred $22,000 to Ardmore House Partners LLC in four payments and civil proceedings recovered approximately $14,000.
- Glenn Christensen pleaded guilty in September 2019 and was sentenced to nine years while the eleven tunics remain logged as evidence at the Keswick County Sheriff's Department.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1483falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-child-s-sneaker-sitting-on-the-porch-step--73181435
A current passport, its own photograph pierced by a roofing nail, hung on a barn wall when Tammy Larsen opened the door of a 212-acre Indiana farm on March 14, 2009. Furniture remained inside, a child's sneaker rested on the porch step, and no one was there to explain why a man had literally nailed his face to the wood. What did that staged document mean, and how did a community simply evacuate without leaving a note?

In this episode, we trace Provision Acres from its founding by Randy McCarthy to the discovery that he used multiple identities and moved member funds, following Norman Coleman, Susan Hale, Phil Decker, and the investigative threads that turned a missing-people scene into a fraud and unlawful confinement case without revealing every answer.

Person: Norman Coleman
Location: Provision Acres, Pellen, Indiana
Date: March 14, 2009
Organization: Provision Acres / administrator Randy McCarthy
Event: passport nailed to barn photo pierced

- Tammy Larsen phoned the Indiana State Police substation in Pellen at 9:47 AM on March 14, 2009 after finding the empty farmhouse and the passport nailed to the barn.
- Norman Coleman found an ordination certificate dated 1994 in the mudroom under the name Paul Renner and an email exchange discussing maintaining separate identities.
- Members had surrendered assets into a shared trust that investigators later traced to approximately $240,000 moved into personal accounts.
- A padlock installed on the farm gate prevented outsiders from entering and led to an unlawful confinement charge tied to Susan Hale and an officer's logged visit.
- Randy McCarthy was arrested in late April 2009 in Bowling Green, Kentucky under a third identity and later sentenced to fourteen years for wire fraud, theft by deception, and unlawful confinement.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181435Wed, 19 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaA child's sneaker sitting on the porch step A current passport, its own photograph pierced by a roofing nail, hung on a barn wall when Tammy Larsen opened the door of a 212-acre Indiana farm on March 14, 2009. Furniture remained inside, a child's...
A current passport, its own photograph pierced by a roofing nail, hung on a barn wall when Tammy Larsen opened the door of a 212-acre Indiana farm on March 14, 2009. Furniture remained inside, a child's sneaker rested on the porch step, and no one was there to explain why a man had literally nailed his face to the wood. What did that staged document mean, and how did a community simply evacuate without leaving a note?

In this episode, we trace Provision Acres from its founding by Randy McCarthy to the discovery that he used multiple identities and moved member funds, following Norman Coleman, Susan Hale, Phil Decker, and the investigative threads that turned a missing-people scene into a fraud and unlawful confinement case without revealing every answer.

Person: Norman Coleman
Location: Provision Acres, Pellen, Indiana
Date: March 14, 2009
Organization: Provision Acres / administrator Randy McCarthy
Event: passport nailed to barn photo pierced

- Tammy Larsen phoned the Indiana State Police substation in Pellen at 9:47 AM on March 14, 2009 after finding the empty farmhouse and the passport nailed to the barn.
- Norman Coleman found an ordination certificate dated 1994 in the mudroom under the name Paul Renner and an email exchange discussing maintaining separate identities.
- Members had surrendered assets into a shared trust that investigators later traced to approximately $240,000 moved into personal accounts.
- A padlock installed on the farm gate prevented outsiders from entering and led to an unlawful confinement charge tied to Susan Hale and an officer's logged visit.
- Randy McCarthy was arrested in late April 2009 in Bowling Green, Kentucky under a third identity and later sentenced to fourteen years for wire fraud, theft by deception, and unlawful confinement.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1326falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-world-with-its-own-language-its-own-calendar-its-own-version-of-reality--73181434
A small table set for two with a single dried carnation sat on a February patio while the curtains stayed closed and a silver Civic idled in an unlocked garage - a staged scene that turned a welfare check into an unraveling of a carefully maintained system. How did a man with fabricated credentials build a fourteen-month architecture of ritual, forged records, and financial extraction around a sixty-two-year-old woman and a core group of eleven members?

In this episode, we trace Emily Stewart's disappearance and return, the Clarity Circle run by Earl Chambers, and the scripted rituals and coercive practices investigators documented without revealing every outcome of the legal process.

Person: Emily Stewart
Person: Earl Chambers
Location: Keswick Mill Road, Paloma, Ohio
Event: welfare check and staged place-setting (February 11)
Date: February 28 (arrest)

- Glenn Ward found a table set for two with a single dried carnation on the patio of Emily Stewart’s house on February 11.
- Emily’s silver Civic was inside the unlocked garage while a padlock on an exterior door was installed on the outside to prevent entry not exit.
- Five of seven Paloma Food Pantry sign-in sheets from weeks Emily was absent contained forged signatures analyzed as different in slant and capital E formation.
- Dean Graham’s reporting and civil discovery of a Westbrook Self-Storage receipt in Emily’s name helped reveal staged furniture moved to a rented unit six days before her last confirmed home sighting.
- Emily walked out of the Hendron farm on February 19 when Chambers did not answer her call and returned to Keswick Mill Road by late February and to the food pantry the following Tuesday.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181434Tue, 18 Aug 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaA world with its own language, its own calendar, its own version of reality A small table set for two with a single dried carnation sat on a February patio while the curtains stayed closed and a silver Civic idled in an unlocked garage - a staged...
A small table set for two with a single dried carnation sat on a February patio while the curtains stayed closed and a silver Civic idled in an unlocked garage - a staged scene that turned a welfare check into an unraveling of a carefully maintained system. How did a man with fabricated credentials build a fourteen-month architecture of ritual, forged records, and financial extraction around a sixty-two-year-old woman and a core group of eleven members?

In this episode, we trace Emily Stewart's disappearance and return, the Clarity Circle run by Earl Chambers, and the scripted rituals and coercive practices investigators documented without revealing every outcome of the legal process.

Person: Emily Stewart
Person: Earl Chambers
Location: Keswick Mill Road, Paloma, Ohio
Event: welfare check and staged place-setting (February 11)
Date: February 28 (arrest)

- Glenn Ward found a table set for two with a single dried carnation on the patio of Emily Stewart’s house on February 11.
- Emily’s silver Civic was inside the unlocked garage while a padlock on an exterior door was installed on the outside to prevent entry not exit.
- Five of seven Paloma Food Pantry sign-in sheets from weeks Emily was absent contained forged signatures analyzed as different in slant and capital E formation.
- Dean Graham’s reporting and civil discovery of a Westbrook Self-Storage receipt in Emily’s name helped reveal staged furniture moved to a rented unit six days before her last confirmed home sighting.
- Emily walked out of the Hendron farm on February 19 when Chambers did not answer her call and returned to Keswick Mill Road by late February and to the food pantry the following Tuesday.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1491falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/each-jar-held-dry-red-nevada-soil-a-handwritten-date-and-a-dollar-amount--73181433
A milk crate half buried in January ice held forty-one sealed glass jars each filled with dry red Nevada soil and labeled with a date and a dollar amount - a ceremonial record the leader of the Yield thought meaningless until a dog and a hiker exposed it as a ledger. How did a routine-seeming community ritual become the physical evidence that reconstructed nearly three years of a carefully concealed fraud?

In this episode, we follow Kelly Porter’s path from an Elko Denny’s booth to the Cutler Flats compound called the Yield and trace how Glenn Turner’s seed-vessel practice and a buried crate of jars revealed the Sustenance Pool scheme without revealing how long the damage had quietly grown.

Person: Kelly Porter
Organization: The Yield (Cutler Flats compound)
Person: Glenn Turner
Date: January 14, 2019
Event: forty-one jars discovered in Lassiter State Forest

- On January 14, 2019 Diane Brooks’s border collie Pepper led her off-trail and forty feet from the path to a milk crate containing forty-one sealed jars.
- Each jar was labeled with a date and a dollar amount covering March 2017 to November 2018 and together totaled $9,740 on their lids.
- Glenn Turner introduced the jars as "seed vessels" in spring 2017 and told members they recorded contributions to the Sustenance Pool.
- Turner was arrested on January 22, 2019 on six counts of wire fraud and two counts of obtaining money by deception and later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years.
- The dated jar labels cross-referenced with member testimony and bank records reconstructed the Sustenance Pool transaction history and helped prove a multi-year fraud.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181433Mon, 17 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaEach jar held dry red Nevada soil, a handwritten date, and a dollar amount A milk crate half buried in January ice held forty-one sealed glass jars each filled with dry red Nevada soil and labeled with a date and a dollar amount - a ceremonial...
A milk crate half buried in January ice held forty-one sealed glass jars each filled with dry red Nevada soil and labeled with a date and a dollar amount - a ceremonial record the leader of the Yield thought meaningless until a dog and a hiker exposed it as a ledger. How did a routine-seeming community ritual become the physical evidence that reconstructed nearly three years of a carefully concealed fraud?

In this episode, we follow Kelly Porter’s path from an Elko Denny’s booth to the Cutler Flats compound called the Yield and trace how Glenn Turner’s seed-vessel practice and a buried crate of jars revealed the Sustenance Pool scheme without revealing how long the damage had quietly grown.

Person: Kelly Porter
Organization: The Yield (Cutler Flats compound)
Person: Glenn Turner
Date: January 14, 2019
Event: forty-one jars discovered in Lassiter State Forest

- On January 14, 2019 Diane Brooks’s border collie Pepper led her off-trail and forty feet from the path to a milk crate containing forty-one sealed jars.
- Each jar was labeled with a date and a dollar amount covering March 2017 to November 2018 and together totaled $9,740 on their lids.
- Glenn Turner introduced the jars as "seed vessels" in spring 2017 and told members they recorded contributions to the Sustenance Pool.
- Turner was arrested on January 22, 2019 on six counts of wire fraud and two counts of obtaining money by deception and later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to nine years.
- The dated jar labels cross-referenced with member testimony and bank records reconstructed the Sustenance Pool transaction history and helped prove a multi-year fraud.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1305falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/size-seven-side-by-side-laces-still-tied--73181432
A pair of pale yellow canvas shoes, size seven, balanced on a limestone shelf a foot above the Sable Fork river and perfectly dry two days after the shelf had been submerged - a small, impossible detail that reopened a three-year sealed world. Who left the shoes and why did a waterproof bag with a notebook and documents survive on the riverbank for three years when the person who wrote them never returned?

In this episode, we follow the discovery of the shoes to the closed residential community Sycamore Reach, its leader Ralph Roberts, and the disappearance of Patricia Holt, tracing the procedures of control, the money trail, and the questions left after a conviction.

Person: Patricia Holt
Location: Sable Fork river eastern bank
Organization: Sycamore Reach / Sable Fork Learning Institute
Date: November 19, 2008 (last notebook entry)
Amount: $940,000 transferred over seven years

- Keith Lane discovered the two yellow canvas shoes size seven on a limestone shelf above the Sable Fork before sunrise on December 20, 2011.
- Patricia Holt's final notebook entry was dated November 19, 2008 and described a plan to cross the Sable Fork at night.
- For seven years Ralph Roberts received $940,000 from residents routed through three intermediary accounts at two credit unions.
- Teresa Lewis transferred $64,000 in fourteen months and left Sycamore Reach with Detective Sandra Morse on December 16, 2011.
- Remains recovered one kilometer downstream in January 2012 were identified by dental records as Patricia Holt and the medical examiner ruled cause of death cold-water drowning accidental

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181432Sun, 16 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at Obomediasize seven, side by side, laces still tied A pair of pale yellow canvas shoes, size seven, balanced on a limestone shelf a foot above the Sable Fork river and perfectly dry two days after the shelf had been submerged - a small, impossible detail...
A pair of pale yellow canvas shoes, size seven, balanced on a limestone shelf a foot above the Sable Fork river and perfectly dry two days after the shelf had been submerged - a small, impossible detail that reopened a three-year sealed world. Who left the shoes and why did a waterproof bag with a notebook and documents survive on the riverbank for three years when the person who wrote them never returned?

In this episode, we follow the discovery of the shoes to the closed residential community Sycamore Reach, its leader Ralph Roberts, and the disappearance of Patricia Holt, tracing the procedures of control, the money trail, and the questions left after a conviction.

Person: Patricia Holt
Location: Sable Fork river eastern bank
Organization: Sycamore Reach / Sable Fork Learning Institute
Date: November 19, 2008 (last notebook entry)
Amount: $940,000 transferred over seven years

- Keith Lane discovered the two yellow canvas shoes size seven on a limestone shelf above the Sable Fork before sunrise on December 20, 2011.
- Patricia Holt's final notebook entry was dated November 19, 2008 and described a plan to cross the Sable Fork at night.
- For seven years Ralph Roberts received $940,000 from residents routed through three intermediary accounts at two credit unions.
- Teresa Lewis transferred $64,000 in fourteen months and left Sycamore Reach with Detective Sandra Morse on December 16, 2011.
- Remains recovered one kilometer downstream in January 2012 were identified by dental records as Patricia Holt and the medical examiner ruled cause of death cold-water drowning accidental

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1410falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-notebook-was-standing-upright-against-a-fence-post-in-an-empty-field--73181430
A black composition notebook, wrapped in plastic and sealed with electrical tape, was found propped against a fence post in a frozen Denton Township field on November 13. Inside were hand-copied ledger entries listing mid-six-figure totals, names, and a final entry dated November 4 - a deliberate breadcrumb that pointed to a vanished community and a planned erasure of identities. Who arranged for the notebook to be found, and why did it matter more than the stolen deeds?

In this episode, we trace how fourteen residents of Hartwell Commons disappeared in a single day after Richard Jones moved deeds into a single-member LLC and removed official records, and how Gail Russo’s clandestine copy of the Commons Ledger became the case’s decisive evidence.

Person: Gail Russo
Location: Hartwell Commons, Harwick County
Date: November 4-13 (notebook final entry November 4; found November 13)
Organization: Hartwell Commons / single-member LLC transfer
Status: Fourteen residents left without identification documents

- Gail Russo copied the official Commons Ledger by hand during Jones’s morning walks and sealed the notebook in plastic and electrical tape.
- On November 3 a panel van with false magnetic propane signage was used to remove boxes of records and the official ledger from the property.
- On the morning of November 4 fourteen residents departed leaving vehicles, clothing, and stacked identification documents on the kitchen table.
- Rachel Mills, a land surveyor, photographed the notebook in place and delivered it to the Harwick County Sheriff’s office on November 13.
- Richard Jones was convicted on sixteen counts including fourteen counts of fraud after the hand-copied ledger matched transfers reconstructed from county and LLC filings.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181430Sat, 15 Aug 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe notebook was standing upright against a fence post in an empty field A black composition notebook, wrapped in plastic and sealed with electrical tape, was found propped against a fence post in a frozen Denton Township field on November 13....
A black composition notebook, wrapped in plastic and sealed with electrical tape, was found propped against a fence post in a frozen Denton Township field on November 13. Inside were hand-copied ledger entries listing mid-six-figure totals, names, and a final entry dated November 4 - a deliberate breadcrumb that pointed to a vanished community and a planned erasure of identities. Who arranged for the notebook to be found, and why did it matter more than the stolen deeds?

In this episode, we trace how fourteen residents of Hartwell Commons disappeared in a single day after Richard Jones moved deeds into a single-member LLC and removed official records, and how Gail Russo’s clandestine copy of the Commons Ledger became the case’s decisive evidence.

Person: Gail Russo
Location: Hartwell Commons, Harwick County
Date: November 4-13 (notebook final entry November 4; found November 13)
Organization: Hartwell Commons / single-member LLC transfer
Status: Fourteen residents left without identification documents

- Gail Russo copied the official Commons Ledger by hand during Jones’s morning walks and sealed the notebook in plastic and electrical tape.
- On November 3 a panel van with false magnetic propane signage was used to remove boxes of records and the official ledger from the property.
- On the morning of November 4 fourteen residents departed leaving vehicles, clothing, and stacked identification documents on the kitchen table.
- Rachel Mills, a land surveyor, photographed the notebook in place and delivered it to the Harwick County Sheriff’s office on November 13.
- Richard Jones was convicted on sixteen counts including fourteen counts of fraud after the hand-copied ledger matched transfers reconstructed from county and LLC filings.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1180falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-found-the-lid-already-removed-sitting-neatly-on-the-grass--73181429
A wooden metronome was found ticking on the concrete rim of a septic tank forty yards from an empty Tennessee compound the morning a contractor arrived on October 14, 2011 - its wind-up mechanism still wound for roughly forty hours. That single deliberate object and the silence around it became the first clue in a story of rehearsals turned regime, money transferred out of retirement accounts, and a woman who walked away at two in the morning; what did that metronome mark and who decided time had run out?

In this episode, we trace Gloria Bauer’s path from Partlow choir member to Voice in the Chorus of the Clear Accord under Brian Tillman (real name David Fell), show how a maintenance worker and a schoolteacher quietly unraveled the compound from within, and follow the investigations and trial that exposed long-running financial exploitation without revealing every motive.

Person: Gloria Bauer
Group: Chorus of the Clear Accord
Alias: Brian Tillman / David Fell
Location: Weller County, Tennessee
Date: March 14, 2011 (Gloria’s exit)

- The metronome was found ticking on the septic tank rim on October 14, 2011 and was estimated to have been running for roughly forty hours.
- Gloria Bauer, age fifty-one when she left, transferred approximately $14,000 from her retirement into the group's nonprofit account before moving to the eleven-acre compound.
- Brian Tillman presented himself as a conservatory-trained director but was later identified as David Fell, whose Piedmont Valley Community College employment ended after a 2003 financial manipulation complaint.
- Doug Wills discovered Tillman's annotation "Leverage" in the margin of Gloria’s Voice Letter and began leaving the rear service gate unlatched on certain evenings.
- David Fell was convicted in February 2013 on counts including seventeen years of conduct, four counts of fraud, two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, and one count of unlawful imprisonment.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181429Fri, 14 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe found the lid already removed, sitting neatly on the grass A wooden metronome was found ticking on the concrete rim of a septic tank forty yards from an empty Tennessee compound the morning a contractor arrived on October 14, 2011 - its wind-up...
A wooden metronome was found ticking on the concrete rim of a septic tank forty yards from an empty Tennessee compound the morning a contractor arrived on October 14, 2011 - its wind-up mechanism still wound for roughly forty hours. That single deliberate object and the silence around it became the first clue in a story of rehearsals turned regime, money transferred out of retirement accounts, and a woman who walked away at two in the morning; what did that metronome mark and who decided time had run out?

In this episode, we trace Gloria Bauer’s path from Partlow choir member to Voice in the Chorus of the Clear Accord under Brian Tillman (real name David Fell), show how a maintenance worker and a schoolteacher quietly unraveled the compound from within, and follow the investigations and trial that exposed long-running financial exploitation without revealing every motive.

Person: Gloria Bauer
Group: Chorus of the Clear Accord
Alias: Brian Tillman / David Fell
Location: Weller County, Tennessee
Date: March 14, 2011 (Gloria’s exit)

- The metronome was found ticking on the septic tank rim on October 14, 2011 and was estimated to have been running for roughly forty hours.
- Gloria Bauer, age fifty-one when she left, transferred approximately $14,000 from her retirement into the group's nonprofit account before moving to the eleven-acre compound.
- Brian Tillman presented himself as a conservatory-trained director but was later identified as David Fell, whose Piedmont Valley Community College employment ended after a 2003 financial manipulation complaint.
- Doug Wills discovered Tillman's annotation "Leverage" in the margin of Gloria’s Voice Letter and began leaving the rear service gate unlatched on certain evenings.
- David Fell was convicted in February 2013 on counts including seventeen years of conduct, four counts of fraud, two counts of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult, and one count of unlawful imprisonment.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1485falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/tied-to-the-jar-s-neck-with-copper-wire-was-a-laminated-card--73181427
A glass specimen jar wedged in a hackberry tree contained forty-seven dark capsules and a laminated card reading "The body does not lie. Clearance: Level Four." The jar and its veterinary-supply copper wire launched an investigation that peeled back a three-year wellness program built on fabricated credentials and staged medical language. Who left the jar at the fence line and what message was it meant to send?

In this episode, we trace how Michael Schmidt presented a clinical veneer through Reclamation Health Associates, how Gina Moore and others were drawn into a fenced property called Sycamore Reach, and how earlier records from Sandra Voss revealed an eleven-year pattern without revealing every intent or actor.

Person: Michael Schmidt
Location: Sycamore Reach, central Tennessee hill country
Date: jar found September 11, 2019
Organization: Reclamation Health Associates
Sentence: 11 years (guilty plea February 2020)

- Holly Keller found a glass specimen jar in a hackberry tree on September 11, 2019 containing forty-seven dark capsules and a laminated card tied with copper wire.
- The laminated card read "The body does not lie. Clearance: Level Four" and bore a simple circle bisected by a vertical line.
- TBI analysis identified the capsules as activated charcoal dried sumac and trace commercial laxative and found the copper wire matched a veterinary-supply gauge linked to Schmidt's long-standing account.
- Schmidt recruited members with claims of functional medicine and "reclamation protocol" then assigned levels that controlled diet sleep compounds and required a monthly fee plus a percentage tithe.
- Sandra Voss preserved records from an earlier cohort and her documentation helped prosecutors show a pattern leading to Schmidt’s arrest September 23, 2019 and his eleven-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181427Thu, 13 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaTied to the jar's neck with copper wire was a laminated card A glass specimen jar wedged in a hackberry tree contained forty-seven dark capsules and a laminated card reading "The body does not lie. Clearance: Level Four." The jar and its...
A glass specimen jar wedged in a hackberry tree contained forty-seven dark capsules and a laminated card reading "The body does not lie. Clearance: Level Four." The jar and its veterinary-supply copper wire launched an investigation that peeled back a three-year wellness program built on fabricated credentials and staged medical language. Who left the jar at the fence line and what message was it meant to send?

In this episode, we trace how Michael Schmidt presented a clinical veneer through Reclamation Health Associates, how Gina Moore and others were drawn into a fenced property called Sycamore Reach, and how earlier records from Sandra Voss revealed an eleven-year pattern without revealing every intent or actor.

Person: Michael Schmidt
Location: Sycamore Reach, central Tennessee hill country
Date: jar found September 11, 2019
Organization: Reclamation Health Associates
Sentence: 11 years (guilty plea February 2020)

- Holly Keller found a glass specimen jar in a hackberry tree on September 11, 2019 containing forty-seven dark capsules and a laminated card tied with copper wire.
- The laminated card read "The body does not lie. Clearance: Level Four" and bore a simple circle bisected by a vertical line.
- TBI analysis identified the capsules as activated charcoal dried sumac and trace commercial laxative and found the copper wire matched a veterinary-supply gauge linked to Schmidt's long-standing account.
- Schmidt recruited members with claims of functional medicine and "reclamation protocol" then assigned levels that controlled diet sleep compounds and required a monthly fee plus a percentage tithe.
- Sandra Voss preserved records from an earlier cohort and her documentation helped prosecutors show a pattern leading to Schmidt’s arrest September 23, 2019 and his eleven-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1249falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/before-six-in-the-morning-on-august-fourteenth--73181425
A flat-black lunch pail sitting on the hood of an engineless Dodge pickup contained six laminated Harwick ID badges, a single white cotton work glove, and a handwritten index card that read "THE ACCOUNT IS SETTLED. RETURN TO THE FORGE." Why did a staged dissolution look like closure on the surface while the accounting inside a fireproof lockbox showed the operation had continued all along?

In this episode, we trace how Kathleen Moore built the Forge Brothers inside Harwick Stamping, recruited workers like Monica Miller, and used a bespoke vocabulary and a private ledger to extract money and compliance without overt violence, while discrepancies in Moore’s employment file and a preserved envelope from an earlier case gradually unraveled the scheme.

Person: Kathleen Moore
Person: Monica Miller
Location: Harwick Stamping, Dunmore Industrial Corridor, Vellum, Ohio
Date: August 11-14, 2009
Event: staged dissolution with lunch pail and ID badges

- Karen Boyd, age 15, found the painted lunch pail on the hood of an engineless Dodge just before 6:00 AM on August 14, 2009 and photographed it.
- The pail contained six laminated Harwick ID badges, one white cotton work glove, and an index card reading "THE ACCOUNT IS SETTLED. RETURN TO THE FORGE."
- Kathleen charged members an $80 monthly contribution that she deposited into her personal checking account with no group records or separate fund.
- Investigators seized a handwritten ledger showing running totals, "forge temperature" ratings, and a "leverage points" column listing vulnerabilities like Monica’s grandmother’s health and car expenses.
- In spring 2010 Kathleen Moore was convicted on four counts of theft by deception and one count of fraudulent misrepresentation and sentenced to thirty-one months with full restitution to six identified victims.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181425Wed, 12 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaBefore six in the morning on August fourteenth A flat-black lunch pail sitting on the hood of an engineless Dodge pickup contained six laminated Harwick ID badges, a single white cotton work glove, and a handwritten index card that read "THE...
A flat-black lunch pail sitting on the hood of an engineless Dodge pickup contained six laminated Harwick ID badges, a single white cotton work glove, and a handwritten index card that read "THE ACCOUNT IS SETTLED. RETURN TO THE FORGE." Why did a staged dissolution look like closure on the surface while the accounting inside a fireproof lockbox showed the operation had continued all along?

In this episode, we trace how Kathleen Moore built the Forge Brothers inside Harwick Stamping, recruited workers like Monica Miller, and used a bespoke vocabulary and a private ledger to extract money and compliance without overt violence, while discrepancies in Moore’s employment file and a preserved envelope from an earlier case gradually unraveled the scheme.

Person: Kathleen Moore
Person: Monica Miller
Location: Harwick Stamping, Dunmore Industrial Corridor, Vellum, Ohio
Date: August 11-14, 2009
Event: staged dissolution with lunch pail and ID badges

- Karen Boyd, age 15, found the painted lunch pail on the hood of an engineless Dodge just before 6:00 AM on August 14, 2009 and photographed it.
- The pail contained six laminated Harwick ID badges, one white cotton work glove, and an index card reading "THE ACCOUNT IS SETTLED. RETURN TO THE FORGE."
- Kathleen charged members an $80 monthly contribution that she deposited into her personal checking account with no group records or separate fund.
- Investigators seized a handwritten ledger showing running totals, "forge temperature" ratings, and a "leverage points" column listing vulnerabilities like Monica’s grandmother’s health and car expenses.
- In spring 2010 Kathleen Moore was convicted on four counts of theft by deception and one count of fraudulent misrepresentation and sentenced to thirty-one months with full restitution to six identified victims.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1544falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-gravel-county-road-in-hadden-county-michigan--73181424
Eleven degrees Fahrenheit and a pale rectangle on the shoulder of a seventeen-mile grader route led Gregory Owens to a heat-crimped gallon Ziploc bag containing four hundred and twelve typewritten pages rubber-banded in two stacks. The manuscript, dry despite the ice around it and found with no tracks to explain it, would tie a small Michigan writing workshop to fabricated publishing credentials, missing program expenditures, and a private system of editorial control-how did a single pile of pages become the proof that broke the Collective's silence?

In this episode, we trace Lori Wilson's path from regional trade editor to Lantern Writers' Collective member, Eugene Harrison's constructed authority, the Operational Fund's financial opacity, and the manuscript that proved systematic intrusion into private correspondence without revealing the full answer about Harrison's belief in his own framework.

Person: Lori Wilson
Person: Eugene Harrison
Location: Hadden County, Michigan
Date: January 14, 2009
Organization: Lantern Writers' Collective / Operational Fund

- Gregory Owens found the Ziploc bag with 412 typewritten pages on January 14, 2009 on a gravel county road with no vehicle tracks or footprints nearby.
- The Lantern Writers' Collective charged members $300 monthly in 2004 and $600 monthly by 2006 and required residency during an Intensive Season.
- Operational Fund filings showed zero program expenditures for two consecutive fiscal years despite collecting an estimated $80,000 to $100,000 annually.
- Lori Wilson hid a manuscript in her car's spare tire well over eight months and used it as the architecture of her exit from the farmhouse in November 2008.
- At trial in July 2009 the jury convicted Eugene Harrison on three counts and sentenced him to seven years while the 412-page manuscript was read aloud in open court.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181424Tue, 11 Aug 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaA gravel county road in Hadden County, Michigan Eleven degrees Fahrenheit and a pale rectangle on the shoulder of a seventeen-mile grader route led Gregory Owens to a heat-crimped gallon Ziploc bag containing four hundred and twelve typewritten...
Eleven degrees Fahrenheit and a pale rectangle on the shoulder of a seventeen-mile grader route led Gregory Owens to a heat-crimped gallon Ziploc bag containing four hundred and twelve typewritten pages rubber-banded in two stacks. The manuscript, dry despite the ice around it and found with no tracks to explain it, would tie a small Michigan writing workshop to fabricated publishing credentials, missing program expenditures, and a private system of editorial control-how did a single pile of pages become the proof that broke the Collective's silence?

In this episode, we trace Lori Wilson's path from regional trade editor to Lantern Writers' Collective member, Eugene Harrison's constructed authority, the Operational Fund's financial opacity, and the manuscript that proved systematic intrusion into private correspondence without revealing the full answer about Harrison's belief in his own framework.

Person: Lori Wilson
Person: Eugene Harrison
Location: Hadden County, Michigan
Date: January 14, 2009
Organization: Lantern Writers' Collective / Operational Fund

- Gregory Owens found the Ziploc bag with 412 typewritten pages on January 14, 2009 on a gravel county road with no vehicle tracks or footprints nearby.
- The Lantern Writers' Collective charged members $300 monthly in 2004 and $600 monthly by 2006 and required residency during an Intensive Season.
- Operational Fund filings showed zero program expenditures for two consecutive fiscal years despite collecting an estimated $80,000 to $100,000 annually.
- Lori Wilson hid a manuscript in her car's spare tire well over eight months and used it as the architecture of her exit from the farmhouse in November 2008.
- At trial in July 2009 the jury convicted Eugene Harrison on three counts and sentenced him to seven years while the 412-page manuscript was read aloud in open court.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1463falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-cord-had-been-there-long-enough-that-the-paint-had-aged--73181421
An orange extension cord painted gray and stapled into limestone ran a hundred feet from a county relay box into a fissure in the eastern hill, disappearing underground - a patient, deliberate work that led deputies to eleven occupied subterranean rooms on June 11. Who had the time and authority to build that hidden infrastructure, and what did it take to convince twenty-three adults and four children that the surface was no longer safe?

In this episode, we follow Linda Ford from a reliable Tuesday volunteer to a twenty-two-year-old who transferred her savings and signed power of attorney after joining Ross Bowers's Prepared Ground Association and explore how his claim of federal preparedness authority became the architecture of control without visible locks.

Person: Linda Ford
Person: Ross Bowers
Organization: Prepared Ground Association
Date: June 11 (discovery and arrests)
Location: Cade County eastern hill district

- Michael Kowalski, a Cade County lineman, found the painted extension cord in the Harlan substation relay box at approximately 7:40 AM on June 11.
- Deputies entered the underground complex the same day and found eleven rooms occupied by twenty-three adults and four children.
- Linda Ford transferred roughly $4,000 in savings and signed a power of attorney in November before she stopped attending her Tuesday food pantry shift.
- County utility records showed nearly zero residential meter usage for fourteen months while a nearby relay box drew a consistent low-grade load.
- Ross Bowers was arrested without resistance on charges including fraud theft of utility services unlawful confinement of a minor and financial exploitation and later led investigators to original signed power-of-attorney documents enabling the return of assets to twenty-one members.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181421Mon, 10 Aug 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe cord had been there long enough that the paint had aged An orange extension cord painted gray and stapled into limestone ran a hundred feet from a county relay box into a fissure in the eastern hill, disappearing underground - a patient,...
An orange extension cord painted gray and stapled into limestone ran a hundred feet from a county relay box into a fissure in the eastern hill, disappearing underground - a patient, deliberate work that led deputies to eleven occupied subterranean rooms on June 11. Who had the time and authority to build that hidden infrastructure, and what did it take to convince twenty-three adults and four children that the surface was no longer safe?

In this episode, we follow Linda Ford from a reliable Tuesday volunteer to a twenty-two-year-old who transferred her savings and signed power of attorney after joining Ross Bowers's Prepared Ground Association and explore how his claim of federal preparedness authority became the architecture of control without visible locks.

Person: Linda Ford
Person: Ross Bowers
Organization: Prepared Ground Association
Date: June 11 (discovery and arrests)
Location: Cade County eastern hill district

- Michael Kowalski, a Cade County lineman, found the painted extension cord in the Harlan substation relay box at approximately 7:40 AM on June 11.
- Deputies entered the underground complex the same day and found eleven rooms occupied by twenty-three adults and four children.
- Linda Ford transferred roughly $4,000 in savings and signed a power of attorney in November before she stopped attending her Tuesday food pantry shift.
- County utility records showed nearly zero residential meter usage for fourteen months while a nearby relay box drew a consistent low-grade load.
- Ross Bowers was arrested without resistance on charges including fraud theft of utility services unlawful confinement of a minor and financial exploitation and later led investigators to original signed power-of-attorney documents enabling the return of assets to twenty-one members.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1283falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-cedar-fence-at-the-eastern-edge-of-the-property-stopped-her--73181420
A pressed white cotton dress buttoned to the collar and pinned with a name tag reading "VALERIE - BRANCH THREE" hung from an iron bracket on the Harker Flats trail two days after the Granary was cleared - a deliberate public message from someone who had just walked away. What did that dress mean, who placed it there, and how did a genealogy group in a small Illinois city become the mechanism for nearly a million dollars in extracted assets?

In this episode, we track Valerie Mueller's recruitment into the Lineal Order of the First Families, Ross Young's construction of authority through fabricated credentials and staged documents, and the unraveling that followed Susan Bale's photographed ledger and a journalist's anonymous tip without revealing every courtroom detail.

Person: Valerie Mueller
Organization: Lineal Order of the First Families
Person: Ross Young
Location: Dunmore, Illinois
Date: May 11, 2019

- Valerie Mueller first attended an Order meeting in February 2016 and by early 2017 had advanced to Branch Four.
- Branch Four required a covenant gift of $12,000 which Valerie paid from savings and surrendered her car.
- Young claimed a 1998 Master of Library and Information Science from an Ohio university which the registrar later confirmed did not exist.
- Investigators found chemically aged genealogical documents and digital print metadata showing files were generated within the previous five years.
- The internal ledger photographed by Susan Bale showed approximately $840,000 in member transfers and roughly $400,000 withdrawn into a personal account controlled by Ross Young.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181420Sun, 09 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe cedar fence at the eastern edge of the property stopped her A pressed white cotton dress buttoned to the collar and pinned with a name tag reading "VALERIE - BRANCH THREE" hung from an iron bracket on the Harker Flats trail two days after the...
A pressed white cotton dress buttoned to the collar and pinned with a name tag reading "VALERIE - BRANCH THREE" hung from an iron bracket on the Harker Flats trail two days after the Granary was cleared - a deliberate public message from someone who had just walked away. What did that dress mean, who placed it there, and how did a genealogy group in a small Illinois city become the mechanism for nearly a million dollars in extracted assets?

In this episode, we track Valerie Mueller's recruitment into the Lineal Order of the First Families, Ross Young's construction of authority through fabricated credentials and staged documents, and the unraveling that followed Susan Bale's photographed ledger and a journalist's anonymous tip without revealing every courtroom detail.

Person: Valerie Mueller
Organization: Lineal Order of the First Families
Person: Ross Young
Location: Dunmore, Illinois
Date: May 11, 2019

- Valerie Mueller first attended an Order meeting in February 2016 and by early 2017 had advanced to Branch Four.
- Branch Four required a covenant gift of $12,000 which Valerie paid from savings and surrendered her car.
- Young claimed a 1998 Master of Library and Information Science from an Ohio university which the registrar later confirmed did not exist.
- Investigators found chemically aged genealogical documents and digital print metadata showing files were generated within the previous five years.
- The internal ledger photographed by Susan Bale showed approximately $840,000 in member transfers and roughly $400,000 withdrawn into a personal account controlled by Ross Young.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1372falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/sitting-on-a-table-in-an-empty-house-on-a-tuesday-morning-in-april--73181418
Four glasses of water, filled to the brim, sat on a table in an empty house on a Tuesday morning in April - a scene that stopped a meter reader cold and prompted a call to Fenwick PD. What caused four people to leave a set table on fourteen acres and never return, and what did a single handwritten ledger entry labeled "resolved" actually mean?

In this episode, we trace how Donald O'Brien built Compass Relief Corps into a closed compound on Sutter Mill Road, how Michael Baker's five years of notes recorded the group's language and rules, and how a ledger, financial records, and a seven-hour confession changed investigators' understanding without answering where Paula Nettles went.

Person: Donald O'Brien
Location: Whitmore compound, Sutter Mill Road (fourteen acres)
Date: April 14, 2019 (discovery) / October 2015 (body recovery)
Event: ledger notation "resolved"
Status: Missing (Paula Nettles) / Deceased (Arthur Conn)

- Wade Crawford called Fenwick PD at 9:42 AM on April 14, 2019 after seeing four chairs and four glasses of water on a table in an otherwise empty house.
- Michael Baker found the CRC flyer in a Murfreesboro library in 2010 and moved to the Whitmore compound in October 2012.
- The Compass Relief Corps Operations Fund received more than $400,000 between 2010 and 2014 with less than 12 percent spent on actual disaster relief.
- Arthur Conn’s body was recovered under a woodpile on the Whitmore property in October 2015 after Donald O'Brien confessed in a methodical seven-hour interview.
- Paula Nettles’ name appears beside the single word "resolved" in O'Brien’s ledger and her location remains unknown.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181418Sat, 08 Aug 2026 23:00:04 +0000Creator at ObomediaSitting on a table in an empty house on a Tuesday morning in April Four glasses of water, filled to the brim, sat on a table in an empty house on a Tuesday morning in April - a scene that stopped a meter reader cold and prompted a call to Fenwick...
Four glasses of water, filled to the brim, sat on a table in an empty house on a Tuesday morning in April - a scene that stopped a meter reader cold and prompted a call to Fenwick PD. What caused four people to leave a set table on fourteen acres and never return, and what did a single handwritten ledger entry labeled "resolved" actually mean?

In this episode, we trace how Donald O'Brien built Compass Relief Corps into a closed compound on Sutter Mill Road, how Michael Baker's five years of notes recorded the group's language and rules, and how a ledger, financial records, and a seven-hour confession changed investigators' understanding without answering where Paula Nettles went.

Person: Donald O'Brien
Location: Whitmore compound, Sutter Mill Road (fourteen acres)
Date: April 14, 2019 (discovery) / October 2015 (body recovery)
Event: ledger notation "resolved"
Status: Missing (Paula Nettles) / Deceased (Arthur Conn)

- Wade Crawford called Fenwick PD at 9:42 AM on April 14, 2019 after seeing four chairs and four glasses of water on a table in an otherwise empty house.
- Michael Baker found the CRC flyer in a Murfreesboro library in 2010 and moved to the Whitmore compound in October 2012.
- The Compass Relief Corps Operations Fund received more than $400,000 between 2010 and 2014 with less than 12 percent spent on actual disaster relief.
- Arthur Conn’s body was recovered under a woodpile on the Whitmore property in October 2015 after Donald O'Brien confessed in a methodical seven-hour interview.
- Paula Nettles’ name appears beside the single word "resolved" in O'Brien’s ledger and her location remains unknown.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1302falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-found-forty-one-laminated-badges-arranged-face-up-on-a-folding-table--73181417
A church volunteer setting up an annex on the morning of March 14 finds forty-one laminated badges laid face-up on a folding table with their lanyards cut - a single image that unspools a financial ledger, missing credentials, and residents suddenly without a program or a place to live. How did a man who presented himself as a credentialed counselor build a house where billing and authority became the real architecture of control?

In this episode, we follow the residents of Clearpath Recovery House, the journalist whose reporting set an investigation in motion, and the forensic accounting that tied forty-one ACH withdrawals to the director Brian O'Brien without ever resolving what those two years cost the people inside.

Person: Brian O'Brien
Organization: Clearpath Recovery House / Clearpath Foundation
Location: Dunnfield, Indiana
Date: March 14 (badges found); March 13 (O'Brien left)
Event: forty-one active billing accounts discovered

- Amy Dixon found forty-one laminated badges arranged face-up on a folding table at the Hartwell Community Church annex on March 14.
- The duplex Clearpath operated in was declared to hold twenty-two residents but a pantry folder listed forty-one active accounts.
- Susan Holt discovered the misfiled folder and used a contraband phone to verify Whitmore College had closed years before O'Brien claimed his degree.
- Forensic accounting and the laptop seized at a co-signatory's Evansville address showed forty-one ACH withdrawals routed to O'Brien's personal accounts.
- A DNA sample taken at booking after O'Brien's conviction matched a 2009 assault case involving Beverly Nash linking him to an unsolved crime.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181417Fri, 07 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at Obomediaand found forty-one laminated badges arranged face-up on a folding table A church volunteer setting up an annex on the morning of March 14 finds forty-one laminated badges laid face-up on a folding table with their lanyards cut - a single image...
A church volunteer setting up an annex on the morning of March 14 finds forty-one laminated badges laid face-up on a folding table with their lanyards cut - a single image that unspools a financial ledger, missing credentials, and residents suddenly without a program or a place to live. How did a man who presented himself as a credentialed counselor build a house where billing and authority became the real architecture of control?

In this episode, we follow the residents of Clearpath Recovery House, the journalist whose reporting set an investigation in motion, and the forensic accounting that tied forty-one ACH withdrawals to the director Brian O'Brien without ever resolving what those two years cost the people inside.

Person: Brian O'Brien
Organization: Clearpath Recovery House / Clearpath Foundation
Location: Dunnfield, Indiana
Date: March 14 (badges found); March 13 (O'Brien left)
Event: forty-one active billing accounts discovered

- Amy Dixon found forty-one laminated badges arranged face-up on a folding table at the Hartwell Community Church annex on March 14.
- The duplex Clearpath operated in was declared to hold twenty-two residents but a pantry folder listed forty-one active accounts.
- Susan Holt discovered the misfiled folder and used a contraband phone to verify Whitmore College had closed years before O'Brien claimed his degree.
- Forensic accounting and the laptop seized at a co-signatory's Evansville address showed forty-one ACH withdrawals routed to O'Brien's personal accounts.
- A DNA sample taken at booking after O'Brien's conviction matched a 2009 assault case involving Beverly Nash linking him to an unsolved crime.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1408falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/his-walker-scott-wilson-assumed-the-usual-a-dead-animal-under-the-brush--73181416
A dog named Cosmo stopped dead on a frozen trail on February 9 and refused to move until his walker found a cardboard portfolio case lying flat near a gap in a chain-link fence. The case was addressed in Linda Perry’s own handwriting to an address no public record connected to her and contained work she had quietly been moving out - but why send her own pieces to herself through a fence and what did that impossible address prove about the place she trusted?

In this episode, we follow Linda Perry, the Ironworks Residency, and the journalist who pulled a thread on Marvin Fleming’s fabricated résumé, tracing how an artist community became a pattern of deception without obvious violence.

Person: Linda Perry
Location: Ironworks Residency, Harwick, Pennsylvania
Date: February 9 (discovery of portfolio)
Person: Marvin Fleming (aka Martin Fleck)
Event: Dean Jenkins contacted Allegheny County Sheriff's Office February 6

- Cosmo the dog stopped at the fence gap on February 9 and Scott Wilson found a cardboard portfolio case addressed to Linda Perry care of Bette Crane at 44 Orchard Spur Road.
- Linda Perry had called her daughter Cassie every Wednesday at 6:45 AM for nine years and the calls stopped for eleven months before resuming the week she left.
- Marvin Fleming incorporated the Ironworks Residency in 2014 and presented himself as a former gallery director despite records showing part-time art handling under the name Martin Fleck in 1994-95.
- Investigators documented $400,000 routed over seven years to a credit union account in the name Martin Fleck that received studio fees and residency payments.
- Fleming pled guilty to eight counts of wire fraud and theft by deception and was sentenced to six years in state prison while Linda Perry’s work was recovered in full.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181416Thu, 06 Aug 2026 23:00:03 +0000Creator at ObomediaHis walker, Scott Wilson, assumed the usual: a dead animal under the brush A dog named Cosmo stopped dead on a frozen trail on February 9 and refused to move until his walker found a cardboard portfolio case lying flat near a gap in a chain-link...
A dog named Cosmo stopped dead on a frozen trail on February 9 and refused to move until his walker found a cardboard portfolio case lying flat near a gap in a chain-link fence. The case was addressed in Linda Perry’s own handwriting to an address no public record connected to her and contained work she had quietly been moving out - but why send her own pieces to herself through a fence and what did that impossible address prove about the place she trusted?

In this episode, we follow Linda Perry, the Ironworks Residency, and the journalist who pulled a thread on Marvin Fleming’s fabricated résumé, tracing how an artist community became a pattern of deception without obvious violence.

Person: Linda Perry
Location: Ironworks Residency, Harwick, Pennsylvania
Date: February 9 (discovery of portfolio)
Person: Marvin Fleming (aka Martin Fleck)
Event: Dean Jenkins contacted Allegheny County Sheriff's Office February 6

- Cosmo the dog stopped at the fence gap on February 9 and Scott Wilson found a cardboard portfolio case addressed to Linda Perry care of Bette Crane at 44 Orchard Spur Road.
- Linda Perry had called her daughter Cassie every Wednesday at 6:45 AM for nine years and the calls stopped for eleven months before resuming the week she left.
- Marvin Fleming incorporated the Ironworks Residency in 2014 and presented himself as a former gallery director despite records showing part-time art handling under the name Martin Fleck in 1994-95.
- Investigators documented $400,000 routed over seven years to a credit union account in the name Martin Fleck that received studio fees and residency payments.
- Fleming pled guilty to eight counts of wire fraud and theft by deception and was sentenced to six years in state prison while Linda Perry’s work was recovered in full.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1231falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/no-water-damage-no-mud-no-warping-from-the-cold--73181415
A pristine laminated badge caught in the reeds six miles from Stillpoint Campus set an investigation in motion on January 14, 2014 - a small, impossible object that contradicted the landscape and the story residents had been told. How did a badge survive damp riverbank conditions untouched and why did its single name unravel years of secrecy and a system of control?

In this episode, we trace Nicole Hensley’s path from Thursday-night bowling leagues to the late-night broadcasts of Wade Draper and the growth of Clarity Signal Ministries into Stillpoint Campus, following the financial paper trail, the storage-unit ledgers, and the recordings that finally linked Draper to multiple identities without revealing every missing thread.

Person: Nicole Hensley
Organization: Clarity Signal Ministries / Stillpoint Campus
Date: January 14, 2014 (badge found); February 5, 2014 (raid)
Location: Harmon County, Louisiana
Outcome: Craig Allen Hollis (aka Wade Draper) sentenced to 19 years

- Melissa Davis found a laminated badge on a Harmon County riverbank on January 14, 2014 that showed no water damage or warping.
- The badge bore the name Sandra Pruitt, matching a former resident who had left Stillpoint after an argument in 2012.
- Seventeen boxes of financial records labeled "CLARITY SIGNAL MINISTRIES - INTERNAL" remained sealed in a Ferris Bluff storage unit until discovered in November 2013.
- A 2001 bankruptcy filing for Waveform Audio Productions included a photograph that matched Wade Draper's face and linked him to Waveform Properties LLC in Nevada.
- When detectives played forty seconds of internal audio from a recovered hard drive Craig Allen Hollis confessed to his own words and later received a nineteen-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181415Wed, 05 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaNo water damage, no mud, no warping from the cold A pristine laminated badge caught in the reeds six miles from Stillpoint Campus set an investigation in motion on January 14, 2014 - a small, impossible object that contradicted the landscape and...
A pristine laminated badge caught in the reeds six miles from Stillpoint Campus set an investigation in motion on January 14, 2014 - a small, impossible object that contradicted the landscape and the story residents had been told. How did a badge survive damp riverbank conditions untouched and why did its single name unravel years of secrecy and a system of control?

In this episode, we trace Nicole Hensley’s path from Thursday-night bowling leagues to the late-night broadcasts of Wade Draper and the growth of Clarity Signal Ministries into Stillpoint Campus, following the financial paper trail, the storage-unit ledgers, and the recordings that finally linked Draper to multiple identities without revealing every missing thread.

Person: Nicole Hensley
Organization: Clarity Signal Ministries / Stillpoint Campus
Date: January 14, 2014 (badge found); February 5, 2014 (raid)
Location: Harmon County, Louisiana
Outcome: Craig Allen Hollis (aka Wade Draper) sentenced to 19 years

- Melissa Davis found a laminated badge on a Harmon County riverbank on January 14, 2014 that showed no water damage or warping.
- The badge bore the name Sandra Pruitt, matching a former resident who had left Stillpoint after an argument in 2012.
- Seventeen boxes of financial records labeled "CLARITY SIGNAL MINISTRIES - INTERNAL" remained sealed in a Ferris Bluff storage unit until discovered in November 2013.
- A 2001 bankruptcy filing for Waveform Audio Productions included a photograph that matched Wade Draper's face and linked him to Waveform Properties LLC in Nevada.
- When detectives played forty seconds of internal audio from a recovered hard drive Craig Allen Hollis confessed to his own words and later received a nineteen-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1303falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-date-was-december-third-two-thousand-seventeen--73181414
A three-ring binder was tucked into a cedar tree thirty yards inside a locked fence on a rural Teller County property - one hundred fourteen handwritten pages that recorded children who, on paper, did not exist there. Who carried that document out past guards, schedules, and silence, and what did a red-ink margin note about a false credential ultimately expose?

In this episode, we trace the rise and collapse of the Millbrook Learning Circle under Keith Davis, the fabricated Baylor credential that held it together, and the fifteen-year-old who carried the binder to the fence without a phone or outside help.

Person: Keith Davis
Location: Whelan property, Teller County Texas
Date: December 3-14, 2017
Event: three-ring binder with 114 handwritten pages found in cedar tree
Status: Convicted (sentence 14 years; appeals denied)

- Keith Davis, age 46 when Millbrook began, fabricated a Baylor credential in 2012 before founding Millbrook Learning Circle.
- By September 2013 Laura Casey had enrolled her son Marcus and became one of five families living on the Whelan property by 2014.
- Sandra Pruett at the Texas Department of Education flagged the false Baylor credential in 2015 and forwarded the discrepancy to the county sheriff who took no action for eleven months.
- Patrice Holden wrote in red ink in the primary binder in summer 2017: "He never went to Baylor. Check the registrar." and left the binder in the shared materials.
- Marcus Casey, fifteen, carried the binder to a cedar tree inside the locked fence in early December 2017 where surveyor Michael Petersen found it eleven days later and triggered the arrest.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181414Tue, 04 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe date was December third, two thousand seventeen A three-ring binder was tucked into a cedar tree thirty yards inside a locked fence on a rural Teller County property - one hundred fourteen handwritten pages that recorded children who, on paper,...
A three-ring binder was tucked into a cedar tree thirty yards inside a locked fence on a rural Teller County property - one hundred fourteen handwritten pages that recorded children who, on paper, did not exist there. Who carried that document out past guards, schedules, and silence, and what did a red-ink margin note about a false credential ultimately expose?

In this episode, we trace the rise and collapse of the Millbrook Learning Circle under Keith Davis, the fabricated Baylor credential that held it together, and the fifteen-year-old who carried the binder to the fence without a phone or outside help.

Person: Keith Davis
Location: Whelan property, Teller County Texas
Date: December 3-14, 2017
Event: three-ring binder with 114 handwritten pages found in cedar tree
Status: Convicted (sentence 14 years; appeals denied)

- Keith Davis, age 46 when Millbrook began, fabricated a Baylor credential in 2012 before founding Millbrook Learning Circle.
- By September 2013 Laura Casey had enrolled her son Marcus and became one of five families living on the Whelan property by 2014.
- Sandra Pruett at the Texas Department of Education flagged the false Baylor credential in 2015 and forwarded the discrepancy to the county sheriff who took no action for eleven months.
- Patrice Holden wrote in red ink in the primary binder in summer 2017: "He never went to Baylor. Check the registrar." and left the binder in the shared materials.
- Marcus Casey, fifteen, carried the binder to a cedar tree inside the locked fence in early December 2017 where surveyor Michael Petersen found it eleven days later and triggered the arrest.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1275falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-van-was-parked-exactly-where-it-had-no-business-being--73181413
A white Ford cargo van sat on the shoulder of Route 101 on November 7, 2019 with its hood raised, a socket wrench balanced on the engine block, and the cargo bay lined with hundreds of dried flower garlands around a pair of size-eleven rubber chest waders - an image that opened an abandoned cannery and a ledger that didn’t add up. How did a man alleging sacrifice and shared purpose turn a working-coast cooperative into a financial machine, and who paid for it?

In this episode, we trace Pelican Reach Cooperative from Gloria Zeller’s November 14, 2019 discovery back through its founding by Melvin Clark, the ritualized Offering Walk, and the ledger entries that revealed three years of regular transfers to a Grants Pass account - without revealing the full scope of what was in the second lockbox.

Person: Melvin Clark (born Melvin Dwayne Corey)
Location: Anchor Cove Peninsula, northern Oregon coast
Date: November 7-14, 2019
Organization: Pelican Reach Cooperative LLC
Event: discovery of abandoned cannery and financial records

- Gloria Zeller found the abandoned cooperative and the van with garlands and upright chest waders on November 14, 2019 and reported it to the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office.
- Pelican Reach had been incorporated the previous summer and housed fourteen full-time residents who pooled wages into a Collective Account.
- Jeffrey Morris, a signatory on the account, discovered consistent monthly outflows of $2,000 to $3,000 routed to a Grants Pass account held by Patricia Voss.
- Clark was actually Melvin Dwayne Corey with a 1996 Nevada name change and a 2004 fraud conviction for a timeshare scheme in Bakersfield involving eleven victims.
- Clark confessed to twelve counts of wire fraud and three counts of labor exploitation and investigators recovered a ledger and a second lockbox documenting the transfers.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181413Mon, 03 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe van was parked exactly where it had no business being A white Ford cargo van sat on the shoulder of Route 101 on November 7, 2019 with its hood raised, a socket wrench balanced on the engine block, and the cargo bay lined with hundreds of dried...
A white Ford cargo van sat on the shoulder of Route 101 on November 7, 2019 with its hood raised, a socket wrench balanced on the engine block, and the cargo bay lined with hundreds of dried flower garlands around a pair of size-eleven rubber chest waders - an image that opened an abandoned cannery and a ledger that didn’t add up. How did a man alleging sacrifice and shared purpose turn a working-coast cooperative into a financial machine, and who paid for it?

In this episode, we trace Pelican Reach Cooperative from Gloria Zeller’s November 14, 2019 discovery back through its founding by Melvin Clark, the ritualized Offering Walk, and the ledger entries that revealed three years of regular transfers to a Grants Pass account - without revealing the full scope of what was in the second lockbox.

Person: Melvin Clark (born Melvin Dwayne Corey)
Location: Anchor Cove Peninsula, northern Oregon coast
Date: November 7-14, 2019
Organization: Pelican Reach Cooperative LLC
Event: discovery of abandoned cannery and financial records

- Gloria Zeller found the abandoned cooperative and the van with garlands and upright chest waders on November 14, 2019 and reported it to the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office.
- Pelican Reach had been incorporated the previous summer and housed fourteen full-time residents who pooled wages into a Collective Account.
- Jeffrey Morris, a signatory on the account, discovered consistent monthly outflows of $2,000 to $3,000 routed to a Grants Pass account held by Patricia Voss.
- Clark was actually Melvin Dwayne Corey with a 1996 Nevada name change and a 2004 fraud conviction for a timeshare scheme in Bakersfield involving eleven victims.
- Clark confessed to twelve counts of wire fraud and three counts of labor exploitation and investigators recovered a ledger and a second lockbox documenting the transfers.

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© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1389falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/surveyor-finds-a-safe-bolted-to-a-tree-the-sovereign-pines-fellowship--73181412
A Harmon County surveyor found a microwave-sized safe bolted to a living white oak, its lower bolts grown into the bark, containing forty-one composition notebooks that mapped nine years of one man’s private accounting of the people in his care-grief, secrets, estrangements and the methods of control. Who was Charles Hunt, and how did a nonprofit educational retreat hide a decade-long system of manipulation inside tax-exempt paperwork and workshop charisma?

In this episode, we follow the discovery from the GPS coordinate recorded by surveyor Brian Duncan to the notebooks locked inside the safe, and we trace how people like Marcia Riley were drawn in by weekend workshops and a carefully constructed biography. What did the Stewardship Circle mean in practice, and how did nine years of records reveal the Fellowship’s true structure?

Person: Brian Duncan
Person: Charles Hunt
Person: Marcia Riley
Event: Safe discovered on third Tuesday of August 2019 at 10:15 AM
Count: 41 composition notebooks

- The safe was bolted to a living white oak roughly two hundred yards past the tree line.
- The lower two bolts had been grown around by the tree, indicating the safe had been there for at least two or three years.
- The notebooks covered nine years and each was labeled with a letter, a number, and a surname.
- By spring 2014 Charles Hunt was fifty-three years old and had been refining his approach for more than a decade.
- By March 2015 Marcia Riley had donated approximately $18,000 and moved onto the Harmon County property.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181412Sun, 02 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaSurveyor Finds a Safe Bolted to a Tree: The Sovereign Pines Fellowship A Harmon County surveyor found a microwave-sized safe bolted to a living white oak, its lower bolts grown into the bark, containing forty-one composition notebooks that mapped...
A Harmon County surveyor found a microwave-sized safe bolted to a living white oak, its lower bolts grown into the bark, containing forty-one composition notebooks that mapped nine years of one man’s private accounting of the people in his care-grief, secrets, estrangements and the methods of control. Who was Charles Hunt, and how did a nonprofit educational retreat hide a decade-long system of manipulation inside tax-exempt paperwork and workshop charisma?

In this episode, we follow the discovery from the GPS coordinate recorded by surveyor Brian Duncan to the notebooks locked inside the safe, and we trace how people like Marcia Riley were drawn in by weekend workshops and a carefully constructed biography. What did the Stewardship Circle mean in practice, and how did nine years of records reveal the Fellowship’s true structure?

Person: Brian Duncan
Person: Charles Hunt
Person: Marcia Riley
Event: Safe discovered on third Tuesday of August 2019 at 10:15 AM
Count: 41 composition notebooks

- The safe was bolted to a living white oak roughly two hundred yards past the tree line.
- The lower two bolts had been grown around by the tree, indicating the safe had been there for at least two or three years.
- The notebooks covered nine years and each was labeled with a letter, a number, and a surname.
- By spring 2014 Charles Hunt was fifty-three years old and had been refining his approach for more than a decade.
- By March 2015 Marcia Riley had donated approximately $18,000 and moved onto the Harmon County property.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1488falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/she-never-went-there-the-warden-circle-case--73181411
Grief was reframed into responsibility: a laminated card belonging to Patricia Wren - who had been dead for over a year and had never been to the property where the card was found - was wedged under a septic hatch on July 14, 2019, and that single impossible detail pulled on a five-year thread. How did a dead woman's card end up on a rural Harmon Township property, and what did it reveal about fabricated credentials and a scheme that drained $460,000 from grieving people?

In this episode, we follow the events that led from a Renner Street grief group to a communal property in Harmon Township, tracing key people, false credentials, and financial arrangements that connected them. What happened between January 2017 and July 2019 that turned caregiving and loss into a pattern of deception?

Person: Patricia Wren
Date: July 14, 2019
Location: Harmon Township
Event: laminated card found under septic hatch
Amount: $460,000

- The laminated card with Patricia Wren’s name was found wedged between a septic hatch cover and its concrete collar on a rural Harmon Township property on July 14, 2019.
- Patricia Wren died in May 2018 from a cardiac event and had not attended the Harmon Township property, signed a lease, surrendered an account, or transferred a title there.
- Melvin Porter, age 54, ran grief sessions beginning January 2017, claiming credentials from a nonexistent Renner Institute and an alleged chaplaincy background with no records at the state board or regional hospitals.
- Dean Cox, age 31, began attending meetings after his mother’s death in October 2016 and moved to the Harmon Township property in July 2017; he maintained two strict insulin alarms for his border collie Hector at 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
- By March 2017, Porter had created a second meeting called the Warden Circle and kept physical folders titled “Prospects,” which included a file for Patricia Wren who had attended for three months in 2017 before leaving.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181411Sat, 01 Aug 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaShe Never Went There: The Warden Circle Case Grief was reframed into responsibility: a laminated card belonging to Patricia Wren - who had been dead for over a year and had never been to the property where the card was found - was wedged under a...
Grief was reframed into responsibility: a laminated card belonging to Patricia Wren - who had been dead for over a year and had never been to the property where the card was found - was wedged under a septic hatch on July 14, 2019, and that single impossible detail pulled on a five-year thread. How did a dead woman's card end up on a rural Harmon Township property, and what did it reveal about fabricated credentials and a scheme that drained $460,000 from grieving people?

In this episode, we follow the events that led from a Renner Street grief group to a communal property in Harmon Township, tracing key people, false credentials, and financial arrangements that connected them. What happened between January 2017 and July 2019 that turned caregiving and loss into a pattern of deception?

Person: Patricia Wren
Date: July 14, 2019
Location: Harmon Township
Event: laminated card found under septic hatch
Amount: $460,000

- The laminated card with Patricia Wren’s name was found wedged between a septic hatch cover and its concrete collar on a rural Harmon Township property on July 14, 2019.
- Patricia Wren died in May 2018 from a cardiac event and had not attended the Harmon Township property, signed a lease, surrendered an account, or transferred a title there.
- Melvin Porter, age 54, ran grief sessions beginning January 2017, claiming credentials from a nonexistent Renner Institute and an alleged chaplaincy background with no records at the state board or regional hospitals.
- Dean Cox, age 31, began attending meetings after his mother’s death in October 2016 and moved to the Harmon Township property in July 2017; he maintained two strict insulin alarms for his border collie Hector at 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
- By March 2017, Porter had created a second meeting called the Warden Circle and kept physical folders titled “Prospects,” which included a file for Patricia Wren who had attended for three months in 2017 before leaving.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1365falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-road-grader-blade-caught-it-on-a-tuesday-morning-in-february--73181410
A waterlogged three-ring binder, half-dissolved and dragged from a drainage ditch by a county road grader, held 112 names, dollar amounts, and a single four-letter status next to Megan Sheridan’s entry. How did a converted summer camp become a million-dollar operation run by a man with no verifiable credentials, and what did that one word beside a young woman’s name mean for the life she left behind?

In this episode, we follow Megan Sheridan’s path from Wednesday night board games in Weston to Alderton Pines, trace Frances Tate’s yearlong document hunt, and reconstruct how a ledger, a misdirection in a fund’s filing, and a road grader turned a cold pattern into a prosecution without revealing every last loss.

Person: Megan Sheridan
Organization: Alderton Pines / Steward Fund
Person: Thomas Stewart
Location: Garner County (converted summer camp)
Event: binder recovered from drainage ditch

- Alan Wright found the surviving three-ring binder in a drainage ditch near the culvert on County Road 7 on a Tuesday morning in February.
- The binder contained 112 names covering thirty-one months with dollar amounts averaging roughly $9,000 per person and status descriptors.
- Megan Sheridan arrived at Alderton Pines in August after transferring $11,000 drawn from her grandmother’s inheritance and surrendered her phone during the Integration Period.
- Frances Tate uncovered that the Oregon licensing board and university registrar had no records matching the credentials Thomas Stewart claimed and linked him to a prior eight-month program in Walcott County.
- Megan’s ledger entry listed $11,000 and the word "flagged" in blue ballpoint ink smeared at the page edge.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181410Fri, 31 Jul 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe road grader blade caught it on a Tuesday morning in February A waterlogged three-ring binder, half-dissolved and dragged from a drainage ditch by a county road grader, held 112 names, dollar amounts, and a single four-letter status next to...
A waterlogged three-ring binder, half-dissolved and dragged from a drainage ditch by a county road grader, held 112 names, dollar amounts, and a single four-letter status next to Megan Sheridan’s entry. How did a converted summer camp become a million-dollar operation run by a man with no verifiable credentials, and what did that one word beside a young woman’s name mean for the life she left behind?

In this episode, we follow Megan Sheridan’s path from Wednesday night board games in Weston to Alderton Pines, trace Frances Tate’s yearlong document hunt, and reconstruct how a ledger, a misdirection in a fund’s filing, and a road grader turned a cold pattern into a prosecution without revealing every last loss.

Person: Megan Sheridan
Organization: Alderton Pines / Steward Fund
Person: Thomas Stewart
Location: Garner County (converted summer camp)
Event: binder recovered from drainage ditch

- Alan Wright found the surviving three-ring binder in a drainage ditch near the culvert on County Road 7 on a Tuesday morning in February.
- The binder contained 112 names covering thirty-one months with dollar amounts averaging roughly $9,000 per person and status descriptors.
- Megan Sheridan arrived at Alderton Pines in August after transferring $11,000 drawn from her grandmother’s inheritance and surrendered her phone during the Integration Period.
- Frances Tate uncovered that the Oregon licensing board and university registrar had no records matching the credentials Thomas Stewart claimed and linked him to a prior eight-month program in Walcott County.
- Megan’s ledger entry listed $11,000 and the word "flagged" in blue ballpoint ink smeared at the page edge.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1200falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/no-snow-had-fallen-in-orviston-ohio-for-six-months--73181409
A child's red plastic sled sat in a scorched July field behind a farmhouse, holding forty-seven sealed envelopes addressed in the same careful hand and without return addresses - placed there within hours and left unread. Who would write affectionate, preemptive letters to a closed community and then abandon them on a sled instead of delivering them, and what does that sled reveal about how a room full of grief became a controlled world?

In this episode, we trace how a Wednesday grief meeting in February 2017 led to an invitation-only "grief architecture" group, the creation of Clearwater Home LLC, and the slow narrowing of members' lives under a man who called himself Chad Johnson but was legally Charles J. Hamond, avoiding the past that would later end his pattern.

Person: Cynthia Coleman
Organization: Clearwater Home LLC
Location: Mossback Creek Road, Orviston, Ohio
Date: February 2017-July 2019
Status: Criminal conviction (guilty plea November 2019)

- Cynthia Coleman joined a public grief support meeting in February 2017 and met a man who identified himself as Chad Johnson.
- Charles J. Hamond had been censured and decertified by the Washington State licensing board in 2004 for financial exploitation and psychological manipulation.
- By fall 2017 four members had moved into a farmhouse and Clearwater Home LLC was incorporated with sleep protocols and collected journals.
- Janet Keller's June 2019 article prompted a welfare check that found seven adults in the farmhouse compliant and several visibly disoriented while Chad Johnson was absent.
- Leon Larsen found forty-seven sealed, wax-sealed envelopes on a child's red sled in a scorched July field that had been placed there the night before and never mailed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181409Thu, 30 Jul 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaNo snow had fallen in Orviston, Ohio, for six months A child's red plastic sled sat in a scorched July field behind a farmhouse, holding forty-seven sealed envelopes addressed in the same careful hand and without return addresses - placed there...
A child's red plastic sled sat in a scorched July field behind a farmhouse, holding forty-seven sealed envelopes addressed in the same careful hand and without return addresses - placed there within hours and left unread. Who would write affectionate, preemptive letters to a closed community and then abandon them on a sled instead of delivering them, and what does that sled reveal about how a room full of grief became a controlled world?

In this episode, we trace how a Wednesday grief meeting in February 2017 led to an invitation-only "grief architecture" group, the creation of Clearwater Home LLC, and the slow narrowing of members' lives under a man who called himself Chad Johnson but was legally Charles J. Hamond, avoiding the past that would later end his pattern.

Person: Cynthia Coleman
Organization: Clearwater Home LLC
Location: Mossback Creek Road, Orviston, Ohio
Date: February 2017-July 2019
Status: Criminal conviction (guilty plea November 2019)

- Cynthia Coleman joined a public grief support meeting in February 2017 and met a man who identified himself as Chad Johnson.
- Charles J. Hamond had been censured and decertified by the Washington State licensing board in 2004 for financial exploitation and psychological manipulation.
- By fall 2017 four members had moved into a farmhouse and Clearwater Home LLC was incorporated with sleep protocols and collected journals.
- Janet Keller's June 2019 article prompted a welfare check that found seven adults in the farmhouse compliant and several visibly disoriented while Chad Johnson was absent.
- Leon Larsen found forty-seven sealed, wax-sealed envelopes on a child's red sled in a scorched July field that had been placed there the night before and never mailed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1527falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-three-tier-cake-sat-on-the-kitchen-counter-of-an-empty-compound--73181408
A three-tier cake with white frosting, seventeen paper place settings, burned candles, and the date "May 29, 2019" written in blue icing sat on a kitchen counter in a compound where no one had been seen for days. Why was a celebration left in plain sight on a fourteen-acre former orchard and what did that abandoned tableau eventually reveal about a group called the Threshold?

In this episode, we trace how a Smyrna grief workshop led Teresa Webb and others to a fourteen-acre property outside Murfreesboro run by Amanda Duncan aka Amanda Prewitt and how a ledger and a countdown board exposed years of asset transfers without revealing the deeper reasons people stayed.

Person: Amanda Prewitt (aka Amanda Duncan)
Person: Teresa Webb
Location: Kessler orchard property, Rutherford County Tennessee
Event: Boundary Event non-occurrence and May 29 celebration
Amount: $380,000

- Teresa Webb began attending Amanda Duncan’s grief sessions in late 2017 and moved to the Threshold property by March 2018.
- The Threshold operated as an agricultural education trust on fourteen acres with a communal kitchen and a five-hour sleep protocol for members.
- A countdown board in the main house tracked days until the supposed Boundary Event and was updated weekly by member Pete Ostrowski.
- Investigators found Carol Simms’s ledger documenting nineteen transfers from members into the trust and onward to a Chattanooga account in Amanda Prewitt’s legal name totaling $380,000.
- On a Tuesday morning in June 2019 a local runner found the three-tier cake marked May 29 2019 on the entrance step and the compound completely empty.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181408Wed, 29 Jul 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaA three-tier cake sat on the kitchen counter of an empty compound A three-tier cake with white frosting, seventeen paper place settings, burned candles, and the date "May 29, 2019" written in blue icing sat on a kitchen counter in a compound where...
A three-tier cake with white frosting, seventeen paper place settings, burned candles, and the date "May 29, 2019" written in blue icing sat on a kitchen counter in a compound where no one had been seen for days. Why was a celebration left in plain sight on a fourteen-acre former orchard and what did that abandoned tableau eventually reveal about a group called the Threshold?

In this episode, we trace how a Smyrna grief workshop led Teresa Webb and others to a fourteen-acre property outside Murfreesboro run by Amanda Duncan aka Amanda Prewitt and how a ledger and a countdown board exposed years of asset transfers without revealing the deeper reasons people stayed.

Person: Amanda Prewitt (aka Amanda Duncan)
Person: Teresa Webb
Location: Kessler orchard property, Rutherford County Tennessee
Event: Boundary Event non-occurrence and May 29 celebration
Amount: $380,000

- Teresa Webb began attending Amanda Duncan’s grief sessions in late 2017 and moved to the Threshold property by March 2018.
- The Threshold operated as an agricultural education trust on fourteen acres with a communal kitchen and a five-hour sleep protocol for members.
- A countdown board in the main house tracked days until the supposed Boundary Event and was updated weekly by member Pete Ostrowski.
- Investigators found Carol Simms’s ledger documenting nineteen transfers from members into the trust and onward to a Chattanooga account in Amanda Prewitt’s legal name totaling $380,000.
- On a Tuesday morning in June 2019 a local runner found the three-tier cake marked May 29 2019 on the entrance step and the compound completely empty.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1490falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-six-forty-in-the-morning-on-the-fourteenth-of-may--73181407
A utility worker opened an unlocked irrigation control box on the east edge of Harlan Falls and found thirty-one American passports, banded in three colors and inexplicably dry after two days of heavy rain. That single physical detail redirected an unfolding fraud investigation and raised a question that would never be answered in court: why were those documents classified by color, and what did those tiers mean for the people who had surrendered them?

In this episode, we follow Ruth Reed into Aldermoor Farm, trace Kevin Sheridan’s recruitment and business ties to Reed Brothers Nursery, and reconstruct the decisions that turned routine trust into unlawful restraint without resolving the purpose behind the passport color bands.

Person: Kevin Sheridan
Person: Ruth Reed
Location: Aldermoor Farm, Harlan Falls, Ohio
Date: May 14, 2019
Event: thirty-one passports found in irrigation control box

- Paul Schmidt, a meter reader with eleven years on his route, found thirty-one passports in an unlocked steel irrigation box at 6:40 AM on May 14, 2019.
- The passports were dry despite heavy rain on May 12 and 13 indicating they were placed in the box after the rain stopped.
- Aldermoor accounted for thirty-eight percent of Reed Brothers Nursery’s wholesale income by summer 2018 and Dennis Reed wrote a personal check for $80,000 in July 2018.
- Kevin Sheridan was arrested at a Route 9 motel at the same moment the passports were found and was convicted in February 2021 on 31 counts of unlawful restraint plus fraud and theft, receiving a 14-year sentence.
- The passports were banded in three colors categorized by timeframes and that classification was never explained in trial records or Sheridan’s post-conviction statements.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181407Tue, 28 Jul 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt six forty in the morning on the fourteenth of May A utility worker opened an unlocked irrigation control box on the east edge of Harlan Falls and found thirty-one American passports, banded in three colors and inexplicably dry after two days of...
A utility worker opened an unlocked irrigation control box on the east edge of Harlan Falls and found thirty-one American passports, banded in three colors and inexplicably dry after two days of heavy rain. That single physical detail redirected an unfolding fraud investigation and raised a question that would never be answered in court: why were those documents classified by color, and what did those tiers mean for the people who had surrendered them?

In this episode, we follow Ruth Reed into Aldermoor Farm, trace Kevin Sheridan’s recruitment and business ties to Reed Brothers Nursery, and reconstruct the decisions that turned routine trust into unlawful restraint without resolving the purpose behind the passport color bands.

Person: Kevin Sheridan
Person: Ruth Reed
Location: Aldermoor Farm, Harlan Falls, Ohio
Date: May 14, 2019
Event: thirty-one passports found in irrigation control box

- Paul Schmidt, a meter reader with eleven years on his route, found thirty-one passports in an unlocked steel irrigation box at 6:40 AM on May 14, 2019.
- The passports were dry despite heavy rain on May 12 and 13 indicating they were placed in the box after the rain stopped.
- Aldermoor accounted for thirty-eight percent of Reed Brothers Nursery’s wholesale income by summer 2018 and Dennis Reed wrote a personal check for $80,000 in July 2018.
- Kevin Sheridan was arrested at a Route 9 motel at the same moment the passports were found and was convicted in February 2021 on 31 counts of unlawful restraint plus fraud and theft, receiving a 14-year sentence.
- The passports were banded in three colors categorized by timeframes and that classification was never explained in trial records or Sheridan’s post-conviction statements.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1410falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-cake-was-sitting-on-the-floor-of-a-windowless-room-with-no-electricity--73181406
A white-frosted cake with purple sugar flowers and eleven unlit candles sat in a locked, windowless room addressed "Happy Birthday Mara, April 14," a detail that pulled investigators into a secluded twelve-acre compound and raised the question of how a woman could be held in plain sight for nearly two years. What did a cash-bought cake and a hidden gate reveal about control, fabricated credentials, and a system designed to make leaving unthinkable?

In this episode, we follow Wendy Erickson's arrival at Serenity Gate, the discovery of Mara Selleck in Cabin Two, and the evidence - cash withdrawals, a prepaid phone, and Earl Smith's false fellowship - that unraveled the compound without revealing every motive.

Person: Earl Smith
Location: Kellner Road, Dunmore County, Tennessee
Date: April 14-28, 2017
Organization: Farview Wellness Partners LLC / Serenity Gate

- Wendy Erickson paid $4,200 for a fourteen-day Foundations Intensive and arrived at the property in October 2016 with a single rolling suitcase.
- Within 72 hours of arrival Wendy's phone was collected as part of a purported "digital detox" and she remained on the compound for roughly eighteen months.
- Four thousand dollars in cash was withdrawn from the Farview Wellness Partners operating account the week of April 14 with no corresponding invoice or vendor.
- On April 28, 2017 deputies found Mara Selleck, age 41, locked in a room in Cabin Two after she had been listed as a "permanent integration resident" for nearly two years.
- Earl Smith confessed to buying the cake in Millhaven on April 14, returning through an unmonitored east gate, leaving the cake in the locked room, and later pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment fraud and financial exploitation receiving an eleven year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181406Mon, 27 Jul 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe cake was sitting on the floor of a windowless room with no electricity A white-frosted cake with purple sugar flowers and eleven unlit candles sat in a locked, windowless room addressed "Happy Birthday Mara, April 14," a detail that pulled...
A white-frosted cake with purple sugar flowers and eleven unlit candles sat in a locked, windowless room addressed "Happy Birthday Mara, April 14," a detail that pulled investigators into a secluded twelve-acre compound and raised the question of how a woman could be held in plain sight for nearly two years. What did a cash-bought cake and a hidden gate reveal about control, fabricated credentials, and a system designed to make leaving unthinkable?

In this episode, we follow Wendy Erickson's arrival at Serenity Gate, the discovery of Mara Selleck in Cabin Two, and the evidence - cash withdrawals, a prepaid phone, and Earl Smith's false fellowship - that unraveled the compound without revealing every motive.

Person: Earl Smith
Location: Kellner Road, Dunmore County, Tennessee
Date: April 14-28, 2017
Organization: Farview Wellness Partners LLC / Serenity Gate

- Wendy Erickson paid $4,200 for a fourteen-day Foundations Intensive and arrived at the property in October 2016 with a single rolling suitcase.
- Within 72 hours of arrival Wendy's phone was collected as part of a purported "digital detox" and she remained on the compound for roughly eighteen months.
- Four thousand dollars in cash was withdrawn from the Farview Wellness Partners operating account the week of April 14 with no corresponding invoice or vendor.
- On April 28, 2017 deputies found Mara Selleck, age 41, locked in a room in Cabin Two after she had been listed as a "permanent integration resident" for nearly two years.
- Earl Smith confessed to buying the cake in Millhaven on April 14, returning through an unmonitored east gate, leaving the cake in the locked room, and later pleaded guilty to unlawful imprisonment fraud and financial exploitation receiving an eleven year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1350falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-culvert-sat-in-a-shallow-drainage-ditch--73181405
A soaked culvert lip in Pruett County yielded a pink hard-shell lunchbox-sealed with silicone caulk and decorated with cartoon sunflowers-its interior inexplicably bone dry. Inside were forty-one laminated index cards, each a handwritten confession produced under the Lamp Fellowship's "recalibration" process; who ordered those confessions and why were they buried rather than burned?

In this episode, we trace how Douglas Vickers gathered sixty people into the Lamp Fellowship on a leased farm, how James Riley came to be the group's logistics man, and how a chain of missing mail, fabricated credentials, and tightened covenants produced the confessions that proved pivotal without resolving who warned the group before the raid.

Person: Douglas Vickers
Location: Schreiber farm, Pruett County, Iowa
Date: March 14, 2019 (lunchbox found)
Event: forty-one laminated index cards sealed in lunchbox
Outcome: Vickers convicted September 2020 (eleven years)

- On the morning of March 14, 2019 Cass the golden retriever found a pink lunchbox on a flooded culvert lip that contained forty-one laminated index cards.
- Each index card bore a name, a date, and a short written confession produced during the group's recalibration periods.
- Douglas Vickers recruited roughly sixty people into the Lamp Fellowship beginning in August 2017 and secured a lease on the Schreiber farm.
- Reporter Gregory Donnelly published an investigation on March 12, 2019 that revealed Whitfield Covenant Seminary did not exist and connected Vickers to an unsatisfied $38,000 Moline civil judgment from 2009.
- Troy Weston sealed the forty-one cards in a silicone-caulked lunchbox and buried them the night before Donnelly's story published yet the lunchbox was found intact and dry on March 14, 2019.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181405Sun, 26 Jul 2026 23:00:02 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe culvert sat in a shallow drainage ditch A soaked culvert lip in Pruett County yielded a pink hard-shell lunchbox-sealed with silicone caulk and decorated with cartoon sunflowers-its interior inexplicably bone dry. Inside were forty-one...
A soaked culvert lip in Pruett County yielded a pink hard-shell lunchbox-sealed with silicone caulk and decorated with cartoon sunflowers-its interior inexplicably bone dry. Inside were forty-one laminated index cards, each a handwritten confession produced under the Lamp Fellowship's "recalibration" process; who ordered those confessions and why were they buried rather than burned?

In this episode, we trace how Douglas Vickers gathered sixty people into the Lamp Fellowship on a leased farm, how James Riley came to be the group's logistics man, and how a chain of missing mail, fabricated credentials, and tightened covenants produced the confessions that proved pivotal without resolving who warned the group before the raid.

Person: Douglas Vickers
Location: Schreiber farm, Pruett County, Iowa
Date: March 14, 2019 (lunchbox found)
Event: forty-one laminated index cards sealed in lunchbox
Outcome: Vickers convicted September 2020 (eleven years)

- On the morning of March 14, 2019 Cass the golden retriever found a pink lunchbox on a flooded culvert lip that contained forty-one laminated index cards.
- Each index card bore a name, a date, and a short written confession produced during the group's recalibration periods.
- Douglas Vickers recruited roughly sixty people into the Lamp Fellowship beginning in August 2017 and secured a lease on the Schreiber farm.
- Reporter Gregory Donnelly published an investigation on March 12, 2019 that revealed Whitfield Covenant Seminary did not exist and connected Vickers to an unsatisfied $38,000 Moline civil judgment from 2009.
- Troy Weston sealed the forty-one cards in a silicone-caulked lunchbox and buried them the night before Donnelly's story published yet the lunchbox was found intact and dry on March 14, 2019.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1485falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-name-on-the-badge-read-jeffrey-phillips--73181404
A laminated ID badge pulled from the Caulfield River on February 11, 2019 contained a heat-sealed promissory note for $47,000 made out to the Meridian Compact Trust and bearing the name Jeffrey Phillips. How did a man once rebuilding his life end up with debt fused to his identity and why was that financial instrument tossed into a river only to resurface days after he tried to walk away?

In this episode, we trace Jeffrey Phillips's path from a community pantry volunteer to a Level Three member of the Meridian Compact under Ryan Boyd and follow the sequence that led from a stalled van and a payphone call to Boyd's arrest without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Jeffrey Phillips
Organization: Meridian Compact / Meridian Foundations
Person: Ryan Boyd
Location: Sutter's Crossing, Caulfield River, Harnett Road
Date: January-February 2019

- Jeffrey signed a promissory note for $47,000 presented as a demonstration of commitment on January 29, 2019 and then left the Practice Floor permanently.
- On January 31, 2019 Jeffrey walked 2.5 miles to a gas station payphone and called his daughter Karen before throwing his Meridian Compact badge into the Caulfield River at about 6:00 PM.
- Susan Rafferty retrieved the laminated badge from the river at 6:42 AM on February 11, 2019 and called Sutter's Crossing PD from the boat launch parking lot.
- Ledger-Tribune reporter Monica Farrell published a records-based article on February 14, 2019 showing the Calloway Institute had been dissolved in 2011 and was merely a UPS Store mailbox listing.
- Ryan Boyd was arrested on February 19, 2019 and later convicted in November 2019 on seven counts of wire fraud three counts of elder financial abuse and one count of operating a fraudulent charitable organization and sentenced to 14 years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181404Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:35:15 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe name on the badge read Jeffrey Phillips A laminated ID badge pulled from the Caulfield River on February 11, 2019 contained a heat-sealed promissory note for $47,000 made out to the Meridian Compact Trust and bearing the name Jeffrey Phillips....
A laminated ID badge pulled from the Caulfield River on February 11, 2019 contained a heat-sealed promissory note for $47,000 made out to the Meridian Compact Trust and bearing the name Jeffrey Phillips. How did a man once rebuilding his life end up with debt fused to his identity and why was that financial instrument tossed into a river only to resurface days after he tried to walk away?

In this episode, we trace Jeffrey Phillips's path from a community pantry volunteer to a Level Three member of the Meridian Compact under Ryan Boyd and follow the sequence that led from a stalled van and a payphone call to Boyd's arrest without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Jeffrey Phillips
Organization: Meridian Compact / Meridian Foundations
Person: Ryan Boyd
Location: Sutter's Crossing, Caulfield River, Harnett Road
Date: January-February 2019

- Jeffrey signed a promissory note for $47,000 presented as a demonstration of commitment on January 29, 2019 and then left the Practice Floor permanently.
- On January 31, 2019 Jeffrey walked 2.5 miles to a gas station payphone and called his daughter Karen before throwing his Meridian Compact badge into the Caulfield River at about 6:00 PM.
- Susan Rafferty retrieved the laminated badge from the river at 6:42 AM on February 11, 2019 and called Sutter's Crossing PD from the boat launch parking lot.
- Ledger-Tribune reporter Monica Farrell published a records-based article on February 14, 2019 showing the Calloway Institute had been dissolved in 2011 and was merely a UPS Store mailbox listing.
- Ryan Boyd was arrested on February 19, 2019 and later convicted in November 2019 on seven counts of wire fraud three counts of elder financial abuse and one count of operating a fraudulent charitable organization and sentenced to 14 years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1339falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-found-a-mason-jar-sitting-upright-on-a-concrete-footing--73181402
A Pardee County surveyor found a Mason jar upright on a collapsed water-tower footing on January 9, 2019; inside were thirty-one human teeth sorted by type and topped with an index card in block letters listing nine first names and numbers. Why would someone sort, label, and deliberately leave human teeth in plain sight on a high-desert compound and never explain what the record meant?

In this episode, we trace how that jar tied together a sixty-one-page handwritten ledger, a pattern of unlicensed dental extractions, and the Pure Ground Foundation led by Grant Allen Taylor from Flagstaff wellness groups to a 160-acre compound in Seco Basin without revealing why Taylor documented the teeth.

Person: Grant Allen Taylor (born Grant Allen Morrow)
Location: Seco Basin compound, Pardee County New Mexico
Date: January 9, 2019 (jar discovered)
Event: sixty-one-page extraction ledger and Mason jar with 31 teeth
Status: Pure Ground Foundation dissolved; Taylor pleaded guilty

- On the morning of January 9, 2019 surveyor Sherry Dixon found a Mason jar upright on the concrete footing of a collapsed water tower forty yards inside the eastern boundary.
- Inside the jar were thirty-one human teeth sorted by type with an index card in block letters listing nine first names and numbers.
- Grant Allen Taylor kept a sixty-one-page handwritten ledger recording thirty-one extractions for nine individuals and annotating what "each tooth released."
- An eighteen-month purchasing flag at a dental supply company showed the nonprofit bought extraction instruments and anesthetic at clinic volume.
- Taylor never explained the jar; he dismissed his attorney mid-trial and entered guilty pleas on all counts without accounting for the sorted teeth he left in plain sight.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181402Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:35:11 +0000Creator at Obomediaand found a Mason jar sitting upright on a concrete footing A Pardee County surveyor found a Mason jar upright on a collapsed water-tower footing on January 9, 2019; inside were thirty-one human teeth sorted by type and topped with an index card in...
A Pardee County surveyor found a Mason jar upright on a collapsed water-tower footing on January 9, 2019; inside were thirty-one human teeth sorted by type and topped with an index card in block letters listing nine first names and numbers. Why would someone sort, label, and deliberately leave human teeth in plain sight on a high-desert compound and never explain what the record meant?

In this episode, we trace how that jar tied together a sixty-one-page handwritten ledger, a pattern of unlicensed dental extractions, and the Pure Ground Foundation led by Grant Allen Taylor from Flagstaff wellness groups to a 160-acre compound in Seco Basin without revealing why Taylor documented the teeth.

Person: Grant Allen Taylor (born Grant Allen Morrow)
Location: Seco Basin compound, Pardee County New Mexico
Date: January 9, 2019 (jar discovered)
Event: sixty-one-page extraction ledger and Mason jar with 31 teeth
Status: Pure Ground Foundation dissolved; Taylor pleaded guilty

- On the morning of January 9, 2019 surveyor Sherry Dixon found a Mason jar upright on the concrete footing of a collapsed water tower forty yards inside the eastern boundary.
- Inside the jar were thirty-one human teeth sorted by type with an index card in block letters listing nine first names and numbers.
- Grant Allen Taylor kept a sixty-one-page handwritten ledger recording thirty-one extractions for nine individuals and annotating what "each tooth released."
- An eighteen-month purchasing flag at a dental supply company showed the nonprofit bought extraction instruments and anesthetic at clinic volume.
- Taylor never explained the jar; he dismissed his attorney mid-trial and entered guilty pleas on all counts without accounting for the sorted teeth he left in plain sight.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1505falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/size-four-white-canvas-faded-blue-stripe-laces-still-tied--73181400
A boy’s white canvas sneaker, size four and neatly laced, sat on a pump housing inside a locked pump house at an abandoned-looking camp eleven miles northeast of Alderville, Missouri - a small, clean object that pulled open a three-year pattern of financial fraud, isolation, and intercepted mail. How did a recruiting posting on a library bulletin board become the doorway to a system that quietly narrowed lives until ordinary intentions stopped registering?

In this episode, we trace the path from Roger Walker’s December phone call about a drainage smell to the unravelling of Clearwater Pines, its director David Olson, the forensic accounting that revealed $400,000 in diverted funds, and the residents whose letters never reached home.

Person: David Olson
Location: Clearwater Pines, Harmon County, Missouri
Person: Rachel Harris
Event: sneaker found in pump house
Amount: $403,000 (approx transfers traced to Olson's personal account)

- The sneaker was discovered on the pump housing inside a locked pump house on a cold morning in the second week of December by Roger Walker.
- Rachel Harris, age 28, moved to Clearwater Pines in April after responding to a housing posting on the Alderville public library bulletin board.
- Forensic accountant Dennis Mack traced transfers averaging $11,000 every 30 to 45 days for three years totaling just over $400,000 into Olson’s personal account.
- Investigators found a storage unit in Joplin in Olson’s name containing a prepaid phone a motorcycle title and a cardboard box of documents central to the case.
- Olson was arrested December 11 during a mid-transfer at the Fordham bank branch and later pleaded guilty to wire fraud and unlawful restraint with an eight year plea agreement.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181400Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:35:07 +0000Creator at ObomediaSize four, white canvas, faded blue stripe, laces still tied A boy’s white canvas sneaker, size four and neatly laced, sat on a pump housing inside a locked pump house at an abandoned-looking camp eleven miles northeast of Alderville, Missouri - a...
A boy’s white canvas sneaker, size four and neatly laced, sat on a pump housing inside a locked pump house at an abandoned-looking camp eleven miles northeast of Alderville, Missouri - a small, clean object that pulled open a three-year pattern of financial fraud, isolation, and intercepted mail. How did a recruiting posting on a library bulletin board become the doorway to a system that quietly narrowed lives until ordinary intentions stopped registering?

In this episode, we trace the path from Roger Walker’s December phone call about a drainage smell to the unravelling of Clearwater Pines, its director David Olson, the forensic accounting that revealed $400,000 in diverted funds, and the residents whose letters never reached home.

Person: David Olson
Location: Clearwater Pines, Harmon County, Missouri
Person: Rachel Harris
Event: sneaker found in pump house
Amount: $403,000 (approx transfers traced to Olson's personal account)

- The sneaker was discovered on the pump housing inside a locked pump house on a cold morning in the second week of December by Roger Walker.
- Rachel Harris, age 28, moved to Clearwater Pines in April after responding to a housing posting on the Alderville public library bulletin board.
- Forensic accountant Dennis Mack traced transfers averaging $11,000 every 30 to 45 days for three years totaling just over $400,000 into Olson’s personal account.
- Investigators found a storage unit in Joplin in Olson’s name containing a prepaid phone a motorcycle title and a cardboard box of documents central to the case.
- Olson was arrested December 11 during a mid-transfer at the Fordham bank branch and later pleaded guilty to wire fraud and unlawful restraint with an eight year plea agreement.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1100falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-saw-something-he-could-not-immediately-explain--73181399
A retired postal worker found eleven ceramic mugs half-filled with warm coffee and farmhouse doors standing open on a November morning in Alderton, Oregon - an image of order without bodies that began to unwrap a decade-long pattern of carefully staged cooperation and quiet theft. How did a man who spoke of stewardship and shared meals turn charters into a mechanism for removing other people's ownership without overt force?

In this episode, we trace Christine Hicks and ten other members of the Groundwork Fellowship through a signed Commons Charter, a two-month filing gap, and a substituted Article Nine that transferred legal ownership into a steward's name without members' knowledge, leading investigators from an empty kitchen to three collapsed communities and a confession.

Person: Christine Hicks
Organization: Groundwork Fellowship
Perpetrator: Howard Allen Pearce (aka Howard Perry / Harold Fenn)
Location: Alderton, Oregon
Date: November 14, 2019

- Warren Gray discovered the farmhouse at 7:52 AM on November 14, 2019 with eleven ceramic mugs half-filled with warm coffee and doors open to 38°F air.
- Christine Hicks transferred $34,000 into the Fellowship's shared account in spring 2018 and moved to the Alderton property with her cat Peg.
- The Commons Charter signed by eleven members stated property would be "collectively held in equal undivided interest" but the filed version replaced Article Nine with a steward clause naming Perry.
- Alan Cruz documented a consistent $1,200 monthly surplus in the Fellowship ledger and was denied the account number when he asked Perry in September 2019.
- Howard Allen Pearce was arrested December 3, 2019 with $11,000 in cash and a prepaid phone and later sentenced to eleven years for wire fraud and aggravated theft.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181399Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:35:04 +0000Creator at Obomediaand saw something he could not immediately explain A retired postal worker found eleven ceramic mugs half-filled with warm coffee and farmhouse doors standing open on a November morning in Alderton, Oregon - an image of order without bodies that...
A retired postal worker found eleven ceramic mugs half-filled with warm coffee and farmhouse doors standing open on a November morning in Alderton, Oregon - an image of order without bodies that began to unwrap a decade-long pattern of carefully staged cooperation and quiet theft. How did a man who spoke of stewardship and shared meals turn charters into a mechanism for removing other people's ownership without overt force?

In this episode, we trace Christine Hicks and ten other members of the Groundwork Fellowship through a signed Commons Charter, a two-month filing gap, and a substituted Article Nine that transferred legal ownership into a steward's name without members' knowledge, leading investigators from an empty kitchen to three collapsed communities and a confession.

Person: Christine Hicks
Organization: Groundwork Fellowship
Perpetrator: Howard Allen Pearce (aka Howard Perry / Harold Fenn)
Location: Alderton, Oregon
Date: November 14, 2019

- Warren Gray discovered the farmhouse at 7:52 AM on November 14, 2019 with eleven ceramic mugs half-filled with warm coffee and doors open to 38°F air.
- Christine Hicks transferred $34,000 into the Fellowship's shared account in spring 2018 and moved to the Alderton property with her cat Peg.
- The Commons Charter signed by eleven members stated property would be "collectively held in equal undivided interest" but the filed version replaced Article Nine with a steward clause naming Perry.
- Alan Cruz documented a consistent $1,200 monthly surplus in the Fellowship ledger and was denied the account number when he asked Perry in September 2019.
- Howard Allen Pearce was arrested December 3, 2019 with $11,000 in cash and a prepaid phone and later sentenced to eleven years for wire fraud and aggravated theft.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1475falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-six-in-the-morning-on-october-tenth--73181398
A wooden music stand holding a single handwritten score sat upright on the Hartwell Building's front step at 6:00 AM on October 10, 2011, its ink unweathered and the paper dry despite a freezing night; the stand was the first visible sign that pulled a welfare check into a rehearsal room where eight people lived and one man was already gone. Who left that score and what had the music been serving beyond melody?

In this episode, we trace the Canticle Choir under Robert Alan Stevens in Decker's Mill Ohio, the recruitment and isolation tactics, the contribution agreements with a perpetuity clause, and the recordings that transformed rehearsals into evidence without revealing every answer.

Person: Robert Alan Stevens
Location: Hartwell Building, Spruce Terrace, Decker's Mill Ohio
Date: October 10, 2011
Event: welfare check discovers eight residents and missing leader
Amount: $94,000 withdrawn over three years

- Gloria Bailey, age fourteen, found the upright wooden music stand with a handwritten score on the Hartwell Building's front steps at 6:00 AM on October 10, 2011.
- The score titled "Canticle for the Purified" was forensically dated to the week before and showed no weather damage despite a 31°F overnight low.
- Robert Alan Stevens hung a framed diploma from the nonexistent Whitmore Conservatory on the rehearsal room wall and recruited musically skilled members into residence.
- The locked drawer contained signed contribution agreements and a ledger showing $94,000 withdrawn from members across three years.
- Forty hours of recorded "clarity sessions" captured Stevens directing members to account for outside contact and were used at trial to convict him of theft by deception fraud and unlawful imprisonment.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181398Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:59 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt six in the morning on October tenth A wooden music stand holding a single handwritten score sat upright on the Hartwell Building's front step at 6:00 AM on October 10, 2011, its ink unweathered and the paper dry despite a freezing night; the...
A wooden music stand holding a single handwritten score sat upright on the Hartwell Building's front step at 6:00 AM on October 10, 2011, its ink unweathered and the paper dry despite a freezing night; the stand was the first visible sign that pulled a welfare check into a rehearsal room where eight people lived and one man was already gone. Who left that score and what had the music been serving beyond melody?

In this episode, we trace the Canticle Choir under Robert Alan Stevens in Decker's Mill Ohio, the recruitment and isolation tactics, the contribution agreements with a perpetuity clause, and the recordings that transformed rehearsals into evidence without revealing every answer.

Person: Robert Alan Stevens
Location: Hartwell Building, Spruce Terrace, Decker's Mill Ohio
Date: October 10, 2011
Event: welfare check discovers eight residents and missing leader
Amount: $94,000 withdrawn over three years

- Gloria Bailey, age fourteen, found the upright wooden music stand with a handwritten score on the Hartwell Building's front steps at 6:00 AM on October 10, 2011.
- The score titled "Canticle for the Purified" was forensically dated to the week before and showed no weather damage despite a 31°F overnight low.
- Robert Alan Stevens hung a framed diploma from the nonexistent Whitmore Conservatory on the rehearsal room wall and recruited musically skilled members into residence.
- The locked drawer contained signed contribution agreements and a ledger showing $94,000 withdrawn from members across three years.
- Forty hours of recorded "clarity sessions" captured Stevens directing members to account for outside contact and were used at trial to convict him of theft by deception fraud and unlawful imprisonment.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1313falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-impact-sent-a-mason-jar-skipping-across-the-blacktop--73181397
A mason jar buried in a county shoulder was set skittering by a road-grader blade on September 19, 2011, revealing forty-seven photographs and a laminated badge belonging to a doctor who had been dead since 1994. The images pointed to a residential wellness center where a man using that dead doctor's identity was treating paying participants - but who placed the jar there and why did it take so long for anyone outside to see what was happening?

In this episode, we trace the Harwick Center from its interior routines and Phase One improvements to the buried financial records and the investigative thread that ran through four states, following participants like Paul Tucker and whistleblower Vic Ohlman as the façade of Dr. Allen Pryor unravels without resolving all of the unanswered medical questions.

Person: William Dempsey (alias Dr. Allen Pryor)
Location: Harwick, Tennessee (eleven-acre residential center)
Date: September 19, 2011 (jar discovered)
Event: emergency cease-and-desist October 1, 2011 and arrest October 5, 2011
Investigation: Philip Burke (Cumberland Ledger) and federal investigator Tom Wiley

- Paul Tucker enrolled in March 2009, paid a $4,800 enrollment fee, and left the Center on July 4, 2011 with his savings depleted.
- The Integrity Clause in a fourteen-page contract required participants to suspend outside medical consultation during residency.
- Lorraine Hecht was hospitalized in October 2010 for acute electrolyte disruption after receiving supplements from unmarked brown glass bottles with no inventory record.
- Financial records later recovered from under an outbuilding floor showed fee transfers into accounts held in Connie Hartwell's name then moved offshore.
- Vic Ohlman, a retired postal worker, documented 120 days with a concealed camera and buried the mason jar three days before it was found.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181397Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:55 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe impact sent a mason jar skipping across the blacktop A mason jar buried in a county shoulder was set skittering by a road-grader blade on September 19, 2011, revealing forty-seven photographs and a laminated badge belonging to a doctor who had...
A mason jar buried in a county shoulder was set skittering by a road-grader blade on September 19, 2011, revealing forty-seven photographs and a laminated badge belonging to a doctor who had been dead since 1994. The images pointed to a residential wellness center where a man using that dead doctor's identity was treating paying participants - but who placed the jar there and why did it take so long for anyone outside to see what was happening?

In this episode, we trace the Harwick Center from its interior routines and Phase One improvements to the buried financial records and the investigative thread that ran through four states, following participants like Paul Tucker and whistleblower Vic Ohlman as the façade of Dr. Allen Pryor unravels without resolving all of the unanswered medical questions.

Person: William Dempsey (alias Dr. Allen Pryor)
Location: Harwick, Tennessee (eleven-acre residential center)
Date: September 19, 2011 (jar discovered)
Event: emergency cease-and-desist October 1, 2011 and arrest October 5, 2011
Investigation: Philip Burke (Cumberland Ledger) and federal investigator Tom Wiley

- Paul Tucker enrolled in March 2009, paid a $4,800 enrollment fee, and left the Center on July 4, 2011 with his savings depleted.
- The Integrity Clause in a fourteen-page contract required participants to suspend outside medical consultation during residency.
- Lorraine Hecht was hospitalized in October 2010 for acute electrolyte disruption after receiving supplements from unmarked brown glass bottles with no inventory record.
- Financial records later recovered from under an outbuilding floor showed fee transfers into accounts held in Connie Hartwell's name then moved offshore.
- Vic Ohlman, a retired postal worker, documented 120 days with a concealed camera and buried the mason jar three days before it was found.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1316falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-four-fifty-two-in-the-morning-on-august-fourteenth--73181396
A laminated ID card and a small hand-stitched pouch cut from navy twill were tucked behind a relay board inside Building C at Morrow Manufacturing at 4:52 AM on August 14, 2019 - two objects that had no business being there and that opened a nine-year story of trust, secrecy, and deception. How did a supervisor persuade nineteen night-shift workers to hand over heirlooms, cash, and their private confessions until everything they gave became evidence?

In this episode, we trace Keith Green's Banded Shift from a break-room sentence in 2010 to a federal courtroom in 2020, following members like Laura Stewart and Connie Marsh, the false credentials, the stitched pouch, and the $41,000 moved into a personal account without oversight.

Person: Keith Green
Location: Morrow Manufacturing, Dunfield Ohio
Period: 2010-2019
Amount: $41,000
Event: ID card and hand-sewn pouch found August 14, 2019

- Laura Stewart began working nights at Morrow in February 2010 and attended her first Banded Shift meeting in March 2010.
- The Banded Shift peaked at nineteen members and used a three-level structure that required personal objects and monetary contributions.
- Investigators found a pouch cut from Morrow night-shift uniform twill with four edges blanket-stitched in red thread and containing a falsified Ohio Department of Labor and Industry ID.
- Bank records showed $41,000 moved from the group's contributions into a personal savings account controlled by Green over six years.
- Keith Green was convicted on October 9, 2019 of wire fraud theft by deception and impersonation after evidence linked false credentials and a storage unit in Alderton to the scheme.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181396Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:51 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt four fifty-two in the morning on August fourteenth A laminated ID card and a small hand-stitched pouch cut from navy twill were tucked behind a relay board inside Building C at Morrow Manufacturing at 4:52 AM on August 14, 2019 - two objects...
A laminated ID card and a small hand-stitched pouch cut from navy twill were tucked behind a relay board inside Building C at Morrow Manufacturing at 4:52 AM on August 14, 2019 - two objects that had no business being there and that opened a nine-year story of trust, secrecy, and deception. How did a supervisor persuade nineteen night-shift workers to hand over heirlooms, cash, and their private confessions until everything they gave became evidence?

In this episode, we trace Keith Green's Banded Shift from a break-room sentence in 2010 to a federal courtroom in 2020, following members like Laura Stewart and Connie Marsh, the false credentials, the stitched pouch, and the $41,000 moved into a personal account without oversight.

Person: Keith Green
Location: Morrow Manufacturing, Dunfield Ohio
Period: 2010-2019
Amount: $41,000
Event: ID card and hand-sewn pouch found August 14, 2019

- Laura Stewart began working nights at Morrow in February 2010 and attended her first Banded Shift meeting in March 2010.
- The Banded Shift peaked at nineteen members and used a three-level structure that required personal objects and monetary contributions.
- Investigators found a pouch cut from Morrow night-shift uniform twill with four edges blanket-stitched in red thread and containing a falsified Ohio Department of Labor and Industry ID.
- Bank records showed $41,000 moved from the group's contributions into a personal savings account controlled by Green over six years.
- Keith Green was convicted on October 9, 2019 of wire fraud theft by deception and impersonation after evidence linked false credentials and a storage unit in Alderton to the scheme.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1385falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-canal-breeze-lifts-the-edges-of-those-pages--73181394
A white canvas toddler shoe, size four, sat balanced atop a stack of loose manuscript pages on a July morning - a small impossible object on a canal-side sidewalk that led a runner to call the police and exposed fourteen boxes of a writing collective's discarded archive. How did a supposed mentor's vocabulary, a curated accountability system, and $62,000 in member fees hide in plain sight until a child's shoe and a licked envelope unraveled the story?

In this episode, we follow Janet Powell's years inside the Binding Word Collective, the arrival of Brian Snyder's fabricated credentials, and the slow unspooling from shared notebooks and session transcripts to forensic accounting and criminal charges without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Janet Powell
Organization: Binding Word Collective / Holloway Press Foundation
Location: Siebert building, Canal Street, Marsten Ohio
Date: July 8, 2011
Charge: Wire fraud and theft by deception (conviction September 2012)

- Tracy Whitfield photographed a white canvas toddler shoe on top of fourteen boxes of manuscript pages on the canal-side sidewalk on July 19, 2011 at around 5:50 AM.
- The Holloway Press Foundation's 2008 IRS filing showed approximately $62,000 in member contributions with fewer than $9,000 documented as publishing activity.
- Brian Snyder collected $400 per month from members and routed significant payments through Cleartext Services LLC, a vendor registered with Snyder as the sole agent.
- Sean Trout confirmed Marcus Ide and the Alderton Institute credentials Snyder claimed were fictional, and Donna Farris obtained the IRS filing that Janet hid in her pillowcase.
- Forensic accountants matched Snyder's DNA from an envelope seal used in a prior Clearview Letter Workshop case and Snyder was arrested in October 2011 then convicted on four counts in September 2012.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181394Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:47 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe canal breeze lifts the edges of those pages A white canvas toddler shoe, size four, sat balanced atop a stack of loose manuscript pages on a July morning - a small impossible object on a canal-side sidewalk that led a runner to call the police...
A white canvas toddler shoe, size four, sat balanced atop a stack of loose manuscript pages on a July morning - a small impossible object on a canal-side sidewalk that led a runner to call the police and exposed fourteen boxes of a writing collective's discarded archive. How did a supposed mentor's vocabulary, a curated accountability system, and $62,000 in member fees hide in plain sight until a child's shoe and a licked envelope unraveled the story?

In this episode, we follow Janet Powell's years inside the Binding Word Collective, the arrival of Brian Snyder's fabricated credentials, and the slow unspooling from shared notebooks and session transcripts to forensic accounting and criminal charges without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Janet Powell
Organization: Binding Word Collective / Holloway Press Foundation
Location: Siebert building, Canal Street, Marsten Ohio
Date: July 8, 2011
Charge: Wire fraud and theft by deception (conviction September 2012)

- Tracy Whitfield photographed a white canvas toddler shoe on top of fourteen boxes of manuscript pages on the canal-side sidewalk on July 19, 2011 at around 5:50 AM.
- The Holloway Press Foundation's 2008 IRS filing showed approximately $62,000 in member contributions with fewer than $9,000 documented as publishing activity.
- Brian Snyder collected $400 per month from members and routed significant payments through Cleartext Services LLC, a vendor registered with Snyder as the sole agent.
- Sean Trout confirmed Marcus Ide and the Alderton Institute credentials Snyder claimed were fictional, and Donna Farris obtained the IRS filing that Janet hid in her pillowcase.
- Forensic accountants matched Snyder's DNA from an envelope seal used in a prior Clearview Letter Workshop case and Snyder was arrested in October 2011 then convicted on four counts in September 2012.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1452falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-smell-hit-marilyn-patterson-before-she-saw-anything--73181393
A four-inch PVC pipe painted flat green jutted from a hillside behind an apparently unoccupied warehouse on Sutter Creek Road and the condensation on its capped end smelled wrong to an eleven-year meter reader who knew every property's rhythms. That single, painted vent exposed sixty-one days of people living underground-so how did a man presenting as a FEMA veteran convince thirty people to move into a hidden structure and keep them there?

In this episode, we follow the Thornfield Preparedness Society from its civic-sounding pitch to the underground chambers at 4400 Sutter Creek Road, tracing Kent Barrett's claimed credentials, the sealed ventilation that failed, and the photograph that broke the operation from the inside.

Person: Debra Graham
Organization: Thornfield Preparedness Society
Location: 4400 Sutter Creek Road, Calloway County Tennessee
Date: June 2017
Status: Barrett convicted and sentenced to 14 years

- Marilyn Patterson discovered the painted four-inch PVC ventilation pipe on a Thursday in the second week of June 2017 and called the county non-emergency line.
- Debra Graham entered the underground chambers in autumn 2016 and had been living there for sixty-one days when the site was discovered.
- Kent Barrett claimed twelve years of federal emergency management and three major hurricane responses but his FEMA file showed fourteen months of clerical work and termination for falsifying reports.
- Reporter Keith Adams published records on June 12, 2017 revealing Barrett's personnel file and a 2014 audio pitch that used identical language to his Thornfield recruitment.
- Twenty-eight people exited the hillside over three hours on June 13, 2017 and Barrett was arrested that afternoon on charges including unlawful imprisonment and financial exploitation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181393Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:43 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe smell hit Marilyn Patterson before she saw anything A four-inch PVC pipe painted flat green jutted from a hillside behind an apparently unoccupied warehouse on Sutter Creek Road and the condensation on its capped end smelled wrong to an...
A four-inch PVC pipe painted flat green jutted from a hillside behind an apparently unoccupied warehouse on Sutter Creek Road and the condensation on its capped end smelled wrong to an eleven-year meter reader who knew every property's rhythms. That single, painted vent exposed sixty-one days of people living underground-so how did a man presenting as a FEMA veteran convince thirty people to move into a hidden structure and keep them there?

In this episode, we follow the Thornfield Preparedness Society from its civic-sounding pitch to the underground chambers at 4400 Sutter Creek Road, tracing Kent Barrett's claimed credentials, the sealed ventilation that failed, and the photograph that broke the operation from the inside.

Person: Debra Graham
Organization: Thornfield Preparedness Society
Location: 4400 Sutter Creek Road, Calloway County Tennessee
Date: June 2017
Status: Barrett convicted and sentenced to 14 years

- Marilyn Patterson discovered the painted four-inch PVC ventilation pipe on a Thursday in the second week of June 2017 and called the county non-emergency line.
- Debra Graham entered the underground chambers in autumn 2016 and had been living there for sixty-one days when the site was discovered.
- Kent Barrett claimed twelve years of federal emergency management and three major hurricane responses but his FEMA file showed fourteen months of clerical work and termination for falsifying reports.
- Reporter Keith Adams published records on June 12, 2017 revealing Barrett's personnel file and a 2014 audio pitch that used identical language to his Thornfield recruitment.
- Twenty-eight people exited the hillside over three hours on June 13, 2017 and Barrett was arrested that afternoon on charges including unlawful imprisonment and financial exploitation.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1189falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-found-a-birthday-cake-sitting-on-a-table--73181392
A white fondant birthday cake with three burned candles and nine untouched wicks sat on a farmhouse table for two weeks after the guest of honor had already left - an image a church volunteer found and a detail that pulled at a larger pattern. Why would a ritual be deliberately left incomplete, and what did a suspended ceremony reveal about control, money, and identity inside the Bloodline Covenant?

In this episode, we trace Brenda Romano’s path from a genealogy conference to a communal farmhouse run by Mark Jensen, the Covenant’s rules and finances, and the moment a cake on a table exposed a network of isolation and deception without revealing every connection.

Person: Brenda Romano
Organization: Bloodline Covenant / Halversen Institute of Ancestral Studies
Date: April-May 2019
Location: Halverson property, Fenwick Mill Road near Creston Lake
Outcome: Jensen pleaded guilty to fraud and theft by deception

- On May 14, 2019 Peggy Roberts entered an unlocked farmhouse and found a two-week-old birthday cake with three burned candles and nine untouched ones.
- Brenda Romano, age 32, walked away from the Halverson property on May 3, 2019 carrying no phone or wallet and a binder she was allowed to keep.
- Members contributed between 8 and 20 percent of income to the Restoration Fund and Brenda’s monthly contribution was 12 percent.
- Investigators found that of roughly $214,000 collected over three years less than $12,000 went to archival or research activities.
- Mark Jensen pleaded guilty to two counts of felony fraud and one count of theft by deception and was sentenced to four years in a state correctional facility.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181392Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:40 +0000Creator at Obomediaand found a birthday cake sitting on a table A white fondant birthday cake with three burned candles and nine untouched wicks sat on a farmhouse table for two weeks after the guest of honor had already left - an image a church volunteer found and a...
A white fondant birthday cake with three burned candles and nine untouched wicks sat on a farmhouse table for two weeks after the guest of honor had already left - an image a church volunteer found and a detail that pulled at a larger pattern. Why would a ritual be deliberately left incomplete, and what did a suspended ceremony reveal about control, money, and identity inside the Bloodline Covenant?

In this episode, we trace Brenda Romano’s path from a genealogy conference to a communal farmhouse run by Mark Jensen, the Covenant’s rules and finances, and the moment a cake on a table exposed a network of isolation and deception without revealing every connection.

Person: Brenda Romano
Organization: Bloodline Covenant / Halversen Institute of Ancestral Studies
Date: April-May 2019
Location: Halverson property, Fenwick Mill Road near Creston Lake
Outcome: Jensen pleaded guilty to fraud and theft by deception

- On May 14, 2019 Peggy Roberts entered an unlocked farmhouse and found a two-week-old birthday cake with three burned candles and nine untouched ones.
- Brenda Romano, age 32, walked away from the Halverson property on May 3, 2019 carrying no phone or wallet and a binder she was allowed to keep.
- Members contributed between 8 and 20 percent of income to the Restoration Fund and Brenda’s monthly contribution was 12 percent.
- Investigators found that of roughly $214,000 collected over three years less than $12,000 went to archival or research activities.
- Mark Jensen pleaded guilty to two counts of felony fraud and one count of theft by deception and was sentenced to four years in a state correctional facility.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1541falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-badge-was-laminated-clean-and-completely-dry--73181391
A laminated volunteer ID was found standing upright on a limestone boulder in the Dean Nelson Nature Corridor after three nights of April rain, looking as if someone had set it there an hour before and walked away. The badge belonged to Larry Roberts - who was alive seventy-four miles away in a Clarksville Super 8 - so was the placement a deliberate message, an accident of misplaced property, or a clue to something deeper inside the Hartwell Emergency Volunteer Corps?

In this episode, we trace how a plausible disaster-relief group led by Richard Vogel accumulated real deployments and real photographs while donor funds vanished into a private LLC, and how a forgotten badge, a bookkeeper’s question, and a freelance FOIA request pulled apart a community built on trust without transparency.

Person: Larry Roberts
Person: Richard Vogel
Organization: Hartwell Emergency Volunteer Corps
Event: laminated badge found upright on limestone boulder
Date: April 2019

- The badge was found standing upright at the second creek crossing on April 14, 2019 after three nights of rain yet it was clean and dry.
- Larry Roberts left the Hartwell compound on April 3, 2019 and was found eleven days later eating crackers in a Super 8 in Clarksville Tennessee.
- Between 2016 and 2018 roughly $480,000 moved through Hartwell accounts and was transferred to a property management LLC registered to Richard Vogel.
- A FEMA employment verification obtained via FOIA showed Vogel had never held the Gulf Coast coordinator position he claimed during orientations.
- Vogel confessed after investigators found a six-year handwritten ledger in a fireproof box and he was later sentenced to fourteen years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181391Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:35 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe badge was laminated, clean, and completely dry A laminated volunteer ID was found standing upright on a limestone boulder in the Dean Nelson Nature Corridor after three nights of April rain, looking as if someone had set it there an hour before...
A laminated volunteer ID was found standing upright on a limestone boulder in the Dean Nelson Nature Corridor after three nights of April rain, looking as if someone had set it there an hour before and walked away. The badge belonged to Larry Roberts - who was alive seventy-four miles away in a Clarksville Super 8 - so was the placement a deliberate message, an accident of misplaced property, or a clue to something deeper inside the Hartwell Emergency Volunteer Corps?

In this episode, we trace how a plausible disaster-relief group led by Richard Vogel accumulated real deployments and real photographs while donor funds vanished into a private LLC, and how a forgotten badge, a bookkeeper’s question, and a freelance FOIA request pulled apart a community built on trust without transparency.

Person: Larry Roberts
Person: Richard Vogel
Organization: Hartwell Emergency Volunteer Corps
Event: laminated badge found upright on limestone boulder
Date: April 2019

- The badge was found standing upright at the second creek crossing on April 14, 2019 after three nights of rain yet it was clean and dry.
- Larry Roberts left the Hartwell compound on April 3, 2019 and was found eleven days later eating crackers in a Super 8 in Clarksville Tennessee.
- Between 2016 and 2018 roughly $480,000 moved through Hartwell accounts and was transferred to a property management LLC registered to Richard Vogel.
- A FEMA employment verification obtained via FOIA showed Vogel had never held the Gulf Coast coordinator position he claimed during orientations.
- Vogel confessed after investigators found a six-year handwritten ledger in a fireproof box and he was later sentenced to fourteen years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1343falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/lauren-mason-heard-the-trotline-before-she-saw-it--73181390
A laminated binder labeled "PERSONAL INVENTORY - STAGE FOUR" snagged on a trotline in the Sullen Fork before sunrise on March 6, 2018, forty-one pages sealed at the edges and still intact after two to three days in the water. Eleven handwritten inventories countersigned by "Douglas Wells, Certified Recovery Specialist" washed a program's secrecy into daylight - but what did those pages reveal about who Wells really was and why he had them destroyed?

In this episode, we trace the binder from the river to the courtroom, following Nancy Wilson's 26-month stay at Steadfast Path, Jerry York's reporting, and the pattern that linked Wells to a 2006 Kansas program under a different name without spoiling the trial's procedural arc. We ask how a system built on written confessions and staged destruction became leverage and where other inventories might still be.

Person: Lauren Mason
Location: Sullen Fork, Darro County
Date: March 6, 2018
Organization: Steadfast Path / Grounded Resources LLC

- Lauren Mason found the laminated binder on her trotline before sunrise on March 6, 2018 and brought it to the Darro County sheriff's office the same morning.
- The binder contained eleven handwritten inventories, forty-one pages total, each countersigned "Douglas Wells, Certified Recovery Specialist."
- Nancy Wilson moved into Steadfast Path in late January 2016 and produced three binders of handwritten inventories over twenty-six months.
- Grounded Resources LLC was the vendor listed on invoices tied to more than $340,000 in state grant reimbursements and named Douglas Wells as registered agent.
- Douglas Wells was arrested on March 20, 2018 on charges including theft by deception and exploitation of a vulnerable adult and was later sentenced to eleven years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181390Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:31 +0000Creator at ObomediaLauren Mason heard the trotline before she saw it A laminated binder labeled "PERSONAL INVENTORY - STAGE FOUR" snagged on a trotline in the Sullen Fork before sunrise on March 6, 2018, forty-one pages sealed at the edges and still intact after two...
A laminated binder labeled "PERSONAL INVENTORY - STAGE FOUR" snagged on a trotline in the Sullen Fork before sunrise on March 6, 2018, forty-one pages sealed at the edges and still intact after two to three days in the water. Eleven handwritten inventories countersigned by "Douglas Wells, Certified Recovery Specialist" washed a program's secrecy into daylight - but what did those pages reveal about who Wells really was and why he had them destroyed?

In this episode, we trace the binder from the river to the courtroom, following Nancy Wilson's 26-month stay at Steadfast Path, Jerry York's reporting, and the pattern that linked Wells to a 2006 Kansas program under a different name without spoiling the trial's procedural arc. We ask how a system built on written confessions and staged destruction became leverage and where other inventories might still be.

Person: Lauren Mason
Location: Sullen Fork, Darro County
Date: March 6, 2018
Organization: Steadfast Path / Grounded Resources LLC

- Lauren Mason found the laminated binder on her trotline before sunrise on March 6, 2018 and brought it to the Darro County sheriff's office the same morning.
- The binder contained eleven handwritten inventories, forty-one pages total, each countersigned "Douglas Wells, Certified Recovery Specialist."
- Nancy Wilson moved into Steadfast Path in late January 2016 and produced three binders of handwritten inventories over twenty-six months.
- Grounded Resources LLC was the vendor listed on invoices tied to more than $340,000 in state grant reimbursements and named Douglas Wells as registered agent.
- Douglas Wells was arrested on March 20, 2018 on charges including theft by deception and exploitation of a vulnerable adult and was later sentenced to eleven years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1248falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-2-47-a-m-february-2-2019-using-a-painter-s-extension-pole-four-attempts--73181389
A pink canvas backpack with white daisy appliqués hung twelve feet up a flat brick wall outside a converted textile mill on a frozen February morning with no ladder and no footprints beneath it. The photo taken by a county surveyor became the first visible clue in a case that involved altered nonprofit paperwork, intercepted mail, and nights designed to disorient residents - but why was Denise Erickson’s backpack placed where it would make her look like the one in need of rescue?

In this episode, we trace the events from the backpack on the exterior wall to the hidden architecture inside Foundry Nine, following Denise Erickson the residency, the rise of Roy Underwood to control, and the way mail and sleep schedules were used to manage and isolate artists without obvious physical restraint.

Person: Denise Erickson
Location: Foundry Nine, former Ketterman Textile mill, Dellbrook Tennessee
Event: backpack hung on exterior wall at 12 feet
Date: February 2-4, 2019 (backpack found February 4, 2019)
Status: Roy Underwood arrested March 2019; Scott Pender pleaded guilty to mail interference

- Marvin Myers photographed the pink backpack hanging twelve feet up the mill's brick wall on February 4, 2019 before touching it.
- Foundry Nine opened in 2015 with twenty-two studio spaces and became operationally controlled by Roy Underwood by 2016.
- Resident fees rose to $600 a month by 2018 and those payments were deposited into Underwood's personal account then transferred to a Chattanooga account tied to a fictitious Helene Voss.
- Forty-one handwritten outgoing letters from residents were intercepted or withheld and many authors later reported no memory of composing some letters.
- At 2:47 a.m. on February 2, 2019 Scott Pender used a painter's extension pole and after four attempts hooked Denise's backpack twelve feet up the exterior wall.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181389Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:27 +0000Creator at Obomediaat 2:47 a.m., February 2, 2019, using a painter's extension pole. Four attempts A pink canvas backpack with white daisy appliqués hung twelve feet up a flat brick wall outside a converted textile mill on a frozen February morning with no ladder and...
A pink canvas backpack with white daisy appliqués hung twelve feet up a flat brick wall outside a converted textile mill on a frozen February morning with no ladder and no footprints beneath it. The photo taken by a county surveyor became the first visible clue in a case that involved altered nonprofit paperwork, intercepted mail, and nights designed to disorient residents - but why was Denise Erickson’s backpack placed where it would make her look like the one in need of rescue?

In this episode, we trace the events from the backpack on the exterior wall to the hidden architecture inside Foundry Nine, following Denise Erickson the residency, the rise of Roy Underwood to control, and the way mail and sleep schedules were used to manage and isolate artists without obvious physical restraint.

Person: Denise Erickson
Location: Foundry Nine, former Ketterman Textile mill, Dellbrook Tennessee
Event: backpack hung on exterior wall at 12 feet
Date: February 2-4, 2019 (backpack found February 4, 2019)
Status: Roy Underwood arrested March 2019; Scott Pender pleaded guilty to mail interference

- Marvin Myers photographed the pink backpack hanging twelve feet up the mill's brick wall on February 4, 2019 before touching it.
- Foundry Nine opened in 2015 with twenty-two studio spaces and became operationally controlled by Roy Underwood by 2016.
- Resident fees rose to $600 a month by 2018 and those payments were deposited into Underwood's personal account then transferred to a Chattanooga account tied to a fictitious Helene Voss.
- Forty-one handwritten outgoing letters from residents were intercepted or withheld and many authors later reported no memory of composing some letters.
- At 2:47 a.m. on February 2, 2019 Scott Pender used a painter's extension pole and after four attempts hooked Denise's backpack twelve feet up the exterior wall.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1417falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-six-forty-seven-in-the-morning-on-thursday--73181387
A water-warped college-ruled spiral notebook was wedged between a propane line and a septic lid on Dunmore Road, its last entry dated four days earlier and reading "He said the next test is the last one. I don't think I'll pass it." That single sentence pulled at a yearlong silence and opened a door on a live-in community, empty cots, folded clothing, and a man whose midnight radio voice masked a decade of control and deception. What did that sentence mean in a place built on manufactured listening?

In this episode, we trace the discovery from Richard Bowers' find to the Resident Signal on Dunmore Road, following Megan Hensley's path into Keith Tate's orbit, the financial "clarity covenant," and the fabricated broadcasts that concealed the group's structure without revealing the outcome.

Person: Megan Hensley
Person: Keith Donald Tate
Location: Dunmore Road, Cartwell County Missouri
Event: notebook found wedged by septic tank
Date: January 19, 2012

- Richard Bowers found the spiral notebook at 6:47 AM on January 19, 2012 wedged between the propane line and the septic tank lid.
- The last journal entry was dated January 15, 2012 and read "He said the next test is the last one. I don't think I'll pass it."
- Megan Hensley transferred $214,000 from the sale of her house into an account controlled by Tate under a document called the "clarity covenant."
- Investigators established that broadcasts after 2007 were pre-recorded and assembled using screened calls by Marcus Webb and audio technician Pete Calloway.
- At trial in October 2012 a jury convicted Tate on all counts and sentenced him to fourteen years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181387Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:23 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt six forty-seven in the morning on Thursday A water-warped college-ruled spiral notebook was wedged between a propane line and a septic lid on Dunmore Road, its last entry dated four days earlier and reading "He said the next test is the last...
A water-warped college-ruled spiral notebook was wedged between a propane line and a septic lid on Dunmore Road, its last entry dated four days earlier and reading "He said the next test is the last one. I don't think I'll pass it." That single sentence pulled at a yearlong silence and opened a door on a live-in community, empty cots, folded clothing, and a man whose midnight radio voice masked a decade of control and deception. What did that sentence mean in a place built on manufactured listening?

In this episode, we trace the discovery from Richard Bowers' find to the Resident Signal on Dunmore Road, following Megan Hensley's path into Keith Tate's orbit, the financial "clarity covenant," and the fabricated broadcasts that concealed the group's structure without revealing the outcome.

Person: Megan Hensley
Person: Keith Donald Tate
Location: Dunmore Road, Cartwell County Missouri
Event: notebook found wedged by septic tank
Date: January 19, 2012

- Richard Bowers found the spiral notebook at 6:47 AM on January 19, 2012 wedged between the propane line and the septic tank lid.
- The last journal entry was dated January 15, 2012 and read "He said the next test is the last one. I don't think I'll pass it."
- Megan Hensley transferred $214,000 from the sale of her house into an account controlled by Tate under a document called the "clarity covenant."
- Investigators established that broadcasts after 2007 were pre-recorded and assembled using screened calls by Marcus Webb and audio technician Pete Calloway.
- At trial in October 2012 a jury convicted Tate on all counts and sentenced him to fourteen years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1350falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/inside-twelve-school-desks-stood-in-neat-rows-bolted-to-the-floor--73181385
On December 11, 2019, Jason Kowalski followed a winter trail of raptors and found a locked metal shed on a concrete pad at Teller Flats with twelve school desks bolted in neat rows and a worksheet clipped to each one - a classroom that had never been used. What was the Bridgeway Learning Compact really preparing, and why did its infrastructure look engineered for a fast exit?

In this episode, we trace Neil Peterson's rise in Dunmore, Nebraska, the construction of the Bridgeway Learning Compact, and the investigative thread from a local journalist's public-record check to an arrest that exposed fabricated credentials and academic regression without ever revealing the full extent of prior operations.

Person: Neil Peterson
Location: Teller Flats, 14 miles east of Dunmore Nebraska
Event: discovery of classroom shed
Date: December 11, 2019
Outcome: conviction September 2020

- Jason Kowalski, a 53-year-old retired postal worker, discovered the unlocked shed and called the sheriff at 8:22 AM on December 11, 2019.
- Each of the twelve desks in the shed was bolted to the concrete pad with four anchor bolts and held a single worksheet clipped in place.
- Neil Peterson claimed credentials from "Cascade Ridge Academy," a school that does not appear in Washington State's private school registration database for any year in the prior two decades.
- Two children who re-enrolled in public school in fall 2018 tested two to three grade levels below their pre-Compact scores, forming the basis for educational neglect counts.
- Peterson was convicted in September 2020 on four counts of fraud and two counts of educational neglect and sentenced to seven years while the Teller Flats shed and anchored desks remain as physical evidence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181385Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:19 +0000Creator at ObomediaInside, twelve school desks stood in neat rows, bolted to the floor On December 11, 2019, Jason Kowalski followed a winter trail of raptors and found a locked metal shed on a concrete pad at Teller Flats with twelve school desks bolted in neat rows...
On December 11, 2019, Jason Kowalski followed a winter trail of raptors and found a locked metal shed on a concrete pad at Teller Flats with twelve school desks bolted in neat rows and a worksheet clipped to each one - a classroom that had never been used. What was the Bridgeway Learning Compact really preparing, and why did its infrastructure look engineered for a fast exit?

In this episode, we trace Neil Peterson's rise in Dunmore, Nebraska, the construction of the Bridgeway Learning Compact, and the investigative thread from a local journalist's public-record check to an arrest that exposed fabricated credentials and academic regression without ever revealing the full extent of prior operations.

Person: Neil Peterson
Location: Teller Flats, 14 miles east of Dunmore Nebraska
Event: discovery of classroom shed
Date: December 11, 2019
Outcome: conviction September 2020

- Jason Kowalski, a 53-year-old retired postal worker, discovered the unlocked shed and called the sheriff at 8:22 AM on December 11, 2019.
- Each of the twelve desks in the shed was bolted to the concrete pad with four anchor bolts and held a single worksheet clipped in place.
- Neil Peterson claimed credentials from "Cascade Ridge Academy," a school that does not appear in Washington State's private school registration database for any year in the prior two decades.
- Two children who re-enrolled in public school in fall 2018 tested two to three grade levels below their pre-Compact scores, forming the basis for educational neglect counts.
- Peterson was convicted in September 2020 on four counts of fraud and two counts of educational neglect and sentenced to seven years while the Teller Flats shed and anchored desks remain as physical evidence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1400falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-fifteen-year-old-on-her-paper-route-stopped-took-a-photograph--73181384
A child's red rain boot sat alone on gravel outside a locked shore-office door on November 14, 2011 - a stray object that became the first public clue to a closed compound where adults and children lived under a system of rolling debt and supervised language. How did a cooperative pitch, a whiteboard of red numbers, and a broken latch hide confinement until a photograph and a rescued boot pulled the thread?

In this episode, we trace Netward Cooperative at Crestfall Point, the people who joined and the woman who built the structure twice under different names, and the investigative trail from a journalist's tip to a sheriff's folder to the photograph that cracked the case.

Person: Peggy Berry (also operated as Patricia Berryman)
Location: Crestfall Point, central Oregon coast
Date: November 14, 2011 (boot found)
Event: discovery by Monica Wagner and subsequent investigation
Charge/Status: guilty plea; sentenced January 2013 to nine years for labor trafficking and related counts

- Monica Wagner, age 15, found a single red child's rain boot beside a locked door on November 14, 2011 and photographed it before notifying her mother.
- Netward Cooperative housed twenty-three adults and four children at a former processing facility forty miles north of Harwick.
- A whiteboard in the common room listed twenty-one names with red numbers representing compounding debts ranging from $800 to over $4,000.
- Rhonda Chambers walked two miles to Tom Ashe’s bait shop on November 9, 2011 and gave a statement describing supervised letters, restricted movement, and a freezer confinement.
- Peggy Berry pleaded guilty during the third day of trial after prosecutors presented Tidehold licensing photos, whiteboard images, debt documents, and forensic language analysis linking her prior operation and resulting in a nine-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181384Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:15 +0000Creator at ObomediaA fifteen-year-old on her paper route stopped, took a photograph A child's red rain boot sat alone on gravel outside a locked shore-office door on November 14, 2011 - a stray object that became the first public clue to a closed compound where...
A child's red rain boot sat alone on gravel outside a locked shore-office door on November 14, 2011 - a stray object that became the first public clue to a closed compound where adults and children lived under a system of rolling debt and supervised language. How did a cooperative pitch, a whiteboard of red numbers, and a broken latch hide confinement until a photograph and a rescued boot pulled the thread?

In this episode, we trace Netward Cooperative at Crestfall Point, the people who joined and the woman who built the structure twice under different names, and the investigative trail from a journalist's tip to a sheriff's folder to the photograph that cracked the case.

Person: Peggy Berry (also operated as Patricia Berryman)
Location: Crestfall Point, central Oregon coast
Date: November 14, 2011 (boot found)
Event: discovery by Monica Wagner and subsequent investigation
Charge/Status: guilty plea; sentenced January 2013 to nine years for labor trafficking and related counts

- Monica Wagner, age 15, found a single red child's rain boot beside a locked door on November 14, 2011 and photographed it before notifying her mother.
- Netward Cooperative housed twenty-three adults and four children at a former processing facility forty miles north of Harwick.
- A whiteboard in the common room listed twenty-one names with red numbers representing compounding debts ranging from $800 to over $4,000.
- Rhonda Chambers walked two miles to Tom Ashe’s bait shop on November 9, 2011 and gave a statement describing supervised letters, restricted movement, and a freezer confinement.
- Peggy Berry pleaded guilty during the third day of trial after prosecutors presented Tidehold licensing photos, whiteboard images, debt documents, and forensic language analysis linking her prior operation and resulting in a nine-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1329falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-buried-under-four-months-of-ice-and-snow--73181383
A wire-bound notebook with a gold-embossed cover sat face-down in a ditch on a February morning in Graber Township, its pages sealed in cardboard and at the center a perfectly dry laminated library badge bearing the name Peggy Watson. How did a woman who worked two decades in social services disappear into a seventeen-acre compound and leave behind a single preserved object that reopened the question of how people are held when there are no locks?

In this episode, we trace Peggy Watson’s four-year absence inside the Fellowship of Clarity, the constructed language Vela that erased words for exit and help, and the investigative threads from a missing notebook to Terry Russo’s arrest without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Peggy Watson
Group: Fellowship of Clarity
Leader: Terry Russo
Location: Fenner Road compound, Graber Township Wisconsin
Date: Notebook found February 14, 2009

- Peggy Watson entered the Fenner Road compound on October 6, 2004 and did not leave for almost exactly four years.
- The Fellowship used a constructed language called Vela with roughly 800 words and 24 grammar rules and no word for leave lawyer or family.
- Peggy transferred $41,000 to the Fellowship in two installments the second on October 19, 2004.
- Terry Russo pleaded guilty in March 2009 to financial fraud theft by deception and unlawful restraint and received a nine-year sentence.
- On February 14, 2009 snowplow operator Wade Johnson found Peggy’s notebook sealed in cardboard with her laminated library badge perfectly preserved at its center

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181383Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:11 +0000Creator at Obomediaand buried under four months of ice and snow A wire-bound notebook with a gold-embossed cover sat face-down in a ditch on a February morning in Graber Township, its pages sealed in cardboard and at the center a perfectly dry laminated library badge...
A wire-bound notebook with a gold-embossed cover sat face-down in a ditch on a February morning in Graber Township, its pages sealed in cardboard and at the center a perfectly dry laminated library badge bearing the name Peggy Watson. How did a woman who worked two decades in social services disappear into a seventeen-acre compound and leave behind a single preserved object that reopened the question of how people are held when there are no locks?

In this episode, we trace Peggy Watson’s four-year absence inside the Fellowship of Clarity, the constructed language Vela that erased words for exit and help, and the investigative threads from a missing notebook to Terry Russo’s arrest without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Peggy Watson
Group: Fellowship of Clarity
Leader: Terry Russo
Location: Fenner Road compound, Graber Township Wisconsin
Date: Notebook found February 14, 2009

- Peggy Watson entered the Fenner Road compound on October 6, 2004 and did not leave for almost exactly four years.
- The Fellowship used a constructed language called Vela with roughly 800 words and 24 grammar rules and no word for leave lawyer or family.
- Peggy transferred $41,000 to the Fellowship in two installments the second on October 19, 2004.
- Terry Russo pleaded guilty in March 2009 to financial fraud theft by deception and unlawful restraint and received a nine-year sentence.
- On February 14, 2009 snowplow operator Wade Johnson found Peggy’s notebook sealed in cardboard with her laminated library badge perfectly preserved at its center

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1410falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/it-was-packed-tight-as-a-body-with-pages-of-handwritten-journals--73181381
A stage dress nailed to the wall of an empty grain warehouse in Grover Falls, Missouri was stuffed full of five months of handwritten journals, each page signed not with a real name but with a character’s. How did a regional theater collective turn immersive method work into a system that hollowed out identities and channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars into a single account before anyone outside understood what was happening?

In this episode, we follow Sharon Carlson’s arrival in April 2011 and her exit that September, the rise of The Meridian Ensemble under Chad Johnson, and the investigative thread-from a photographed certificate to a locked box ledger-that exposed financial exploitation and psychological management without bars or locks.

Person: Sharon Carlson
Organization: The Meridian Ensemble
Person: Chad Johnson (born Charles Duvall)
Location: Grover Falls, Missouri
Date: September-October 2011

- Jeffrey Boyd discovered the dress nailed to the warehouse wall on the morning of September 14, 2011 and called it in to dispatch.
- Members signed limited powers of attorney and approximately $214,000 moved through the Ensemble’s accounts over three years.
- Weekly journals were submitted in character, returned with Chad’s red-ink calibrations and margin notes asking "Who is speaking here?"
- Investigators found a ledger in Kevin Strand’s storage unit recording withdrawals of $300 to $1,200 and parallel notes assessing each member’s compliance.
- Chad Johnson waived his right to counsel, confessed within ninety minutes, and was convicted on nine counts of financial exploitation and two counts of illegal use of power of attorney with a six-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181381Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:07 +0000Creator at ObomediaIt was packed, tight as a body, with pages of handwritten journals A stage dress nailed to the wall of an empty grain warehouse in Grover Falls, Missouri was stuffed full of five months of handwritten journals, each page signed not with a real name...
A stage dress nailed to the wall of an empty grain warehouse in Grover Falls, Missouri was stuffed full of five months of handwritten journals, each page signed not with a real name but with a character’s. How did a regional theater collective turn immersive method work into a system that hollowed out identities and channeled hundreds of thousands of dollars into a single account before anyone outside understood what was happening?

In this episode, we follow Sharon Carlson’s arrival in April 2011 and her exit that September, the rise of The Meridian Ensemble under Chad Johnson, and the investigative thread-from a photographed certificate to a locked box ledger-that exposed financial exploitation and psychological management without bars or locks.

Person: Sharon Carlson
Organization: The Meridian Ensemble
Person: Chad Johnson (born Charles Duvall)
Location: Grover Falls, Missouri
Date: September-October 2011

- Jeffrey Boyd discovered the dress nailed to the warehouse wall on the morning of September 14, 2011 and called it in to dispatch.
- Members signed limited powers of attorney and approximately $214,000 moved through the Ensemble’s accounts over three years.
- Weekly journals were submitted in character, returned with Chad’s red-ink calibrations and margin notes asking "Who is speaking here?"
- Investigators found a ledger in Kevin Strand’s storage unit recording withdrawals of $300 to $1,200 and parallel notes assessing each member’s compliance.
- Chad Johnson waived his right to counsel, confessed within ninety minutes, and was convicted on nine counts of financial exploitation and two counts of illegal use of power of attorney with a six-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1387falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/on-a-tuesday-morning-in-august-of-two-thousand-nine--73181380
A jogger named Frances Hill found a three-ring binder sealed in a zip-lock bag and reinforced with electrical tape tucked four feet up in a cottonwood tree at Dunnock Reservoir - its spine labeled MEMBER ACCOUNTING LEDGER - SANCTUM UNIT SEVEN - CURRENT CYCLE. That single, deliberate object unraveled three years of life on a converted dairy farm run by the Revel Institute for Intentional Living. How did ledgers, fabricated credentials, and midnight "integration" sessions combine to make leaving feel impossible?

In this episode, we trace the path from an $85 seminar to a Putnam County farm, following Teresa Sheridan, Julie Becker, Marcus Webb, and the binders that recorded alignment scores and financial transfers, without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Julie A. Becker
Person: Teresa Sheridan
Location: Putnam County, Indiana (converted dairy farm)
Date: August 14, 2009 (binder found) / August 9, 2009 (van breakdown)
Event: MEMBER ACCOUNTING LEDGER found in cottonwood tree

- Teresa Sheridan attended Becker's first seminar in 2006 and moved to the farm after signing a power of attorney in December 2006.
- At its peak in 2008 thirty-one people lived full-time on the Revel Institute farm and about sixty maintained affiliation.
- The group's routines included integration sessions at 2:00 AM and 4:00 AM and monthly correspondence reviews with limits on letters.
- Forensic accounting found more than $240,000 in unreported transfers over three years traced to a personal account in Julie Becker's name.
- Frances Hill found the labeled binder on August 14, 2009 and within seventy-two hours investigators connected it to the Revel Institute leading to Becker's arrest and eventual conviction.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181380Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:34:04 +0000Creator at ObomediaOn a Tuesday morning in August of two thousand nine A jogger named Frances Hill found a three-ring binder sealed in a zip-lock bag and reinforced with electrical tape tucked four feet up in a cottonwood tree at Dunnock Reservoir - its spine labeled...
A jogger named Frances Hill found a three-ring binder sealed in a zip-lock bag and reinforced with electrical tape tucked four feet up in a cottonwood tree at Dunnock Reservoir - its spine labeled MEMBER ACCOUNTING LEDGER - SANCTUM UNIT SEVEN - CURRENT CYCLE. That single, deliberate object unraveled three years of life on a converted dairy farm run by the Revel Institute for Intentional Living. How did ledgers, fabricated credentials, and midnight "integration" sessions combine to make leaving feel impossible?

In this episode, we trace the path from an $85 seminar to a Putnam County farm, following Teresa Sheridan, Julie Becker, Marcus Webb, and the binders that recorded alignment scores and financial transfers, without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Julie A. Becker
Person: Teresa Sheridan
Location: Putnam County, Indiana (converted dairy farm)
Date: August 14, 2009 (binder found) / August 9, 2009 (van breakdown)
Event: MEMBER ACCOUNTING LEDGER found in cottonwood tree

- Teresa Sheridan attended Becker's first seminar in 2006 and moved to the farm after signing a power of attorney in December 2006.
- At its peak in 2008 thirty-one people lived full-time on the Revel Institute farm and about sixty maintained affiliation.
- The group's routines included integration sessions at 2:00 AM and 4:00 AM and monthly correspondence reviews with limits on letters.
- Forensic accounting found more than $240,000 in unreported transfers over three years traced to a personal account in Julie Becker's name.
- Frances Hill found the labeled binder on August 14, 2009 and within seventy-two hours investigators connected it to the Revel Institute leading to Becker's arrest and eventual conviction.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1436falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/alan-collins-noticed-it-on-the-morning-of-july-fourteenth-two-thousand-and-eleven--73181379
A white fondant birthday cake with three pink sugar roses and an unburned candle sat on the porch of a house that had been empty for nearly three years - fresh in the July heat and ordered three days earlier in a man's name. Why had the cake been driven out to a vacant Brenlow Road property the morning deputies found sleeping bags, a pried-open lockbox, and a ledger of contributions tied to a group called the Restoration Circle?

In this episode, we trace how Todd Jones recruited grieving people through a local resource center, formed the Restoration Circle around a self-published Clearwater Method workbook, and relocated members to rural cabins before investigators uncovered ledgers, a prospecting index card, and the cake receipt that tied the ritual to a pattern of deception.

Person: Debra Powell
Person: Todd Jones
Date: July 14, 2011
Location: 418 Brenlow Road, Sutter Flats near Millhaven Missouri
Organization: Restoration Circle / Clearwater Method LLC

- Meter reader Alan Collins discovered the cake on the porch of 418 Brenlow Road while reading the meter on July 14, 2011.
- Deputies found sleeping bags in two bedrooms a camp stove protein bars and handwritten daily schedules tacked to the kitchen wall.
- A pried-open lockbox contained contribution ledgers listing names amounts and dates and an index card mapping grief meetings across a 200-mile radius.
- Scott Dray walked off the Garvey property during a supply run called his mother and deputies arrested Todd Jones on August 8, 2011 on four counts including fraud and controlled substances theft.
- The cake receipt matched an order placed in Jones's name three days earlier dated to the one-year anniversary of Debra Powell’s first Resource Center meeting and the candle remained unburned.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181379Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:59 +0000Creator at ObomediaAlan Collins noticed it on the morning of July fourteenth, two thousand and eleven A white fondant birthday cake with three pink sugar roses and an unburned candle sat on the porch of a house that had been empty for nearly three years - fresh in...
A white fondant birthday cake with three pink sugar roses and an unburned candle sat on the porch of a house that had been empty for nearly three years - fresh in the July heat and ordered three days earlier in a man's name. Why had the cake been driven out to a vacant Brenlow Road property the morning deputies found sleeping bags, a pried-open lockbox, and a ledger of contributions tied to a group called the Restoration Circle?

In this episode, we trace how Todd Jones recruited grieving people through a local resource center, formed the Restoration Circle around a self-published Clearwater Method workbook, and relocated members to rural cabins before investigators uncovered ledgers, a prospecting index card, and the cake receipt that tied the ritual to a pattern of deception.

Person: Debra Powell
Person: Todd Jones
Date: July 14, 2011
Location: 418 Brenlow Road, Sutter Flats near Millhaven Missouri
Organization: Restoration Circle / Clearwater Method LLC

- Meter reader Alan Collins discovered the cake on the porch of 418 Brenlow Road while reading the meter on July 14, 2011.
- Deputies found sleeping bags in two bedrooms a camp stove protein bars and handwritten daily schedules tacked to the kitchen wall.
- A pried-open lockbox contained contribution ledgers listing names amounts and dates and an index card mapping grief meetings across a 200-mile radius.
- Scott Dray walked off the Garvey property during a supply run called his mother and deputies arrested Todd Jones on August 8, 2011 on four counts including fraud and controlled substances theft.
- The cake receipt matched an order placed in Jones's name three days earlier dated to the one-year anniversary of Debra Powell’s first Resource Center meeting and the candle remained unburned.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1374falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-calendar-was-still-hanging-on-the-wall-when-kevin-white-walked-in--73181377
A spiral-bound pastoral calendar hung at eye level across from the barn door with every date before October 19, 2010 crossed out and "THE END" written in red on the nineteenth while every date after remained blank - a deliberate message left for whoever came next. Why did roughly forty people rearrange their lives around a scheduled "convergence," hand over homes and phones, and leave that single, impossible artifact where a stranger would find it months later?

In this episode, we trace how Troy Lewis recruited members to the Covenant of the Corrected Hour in Millhaven Tennessee, the financial transfers into Meridian Temporal Holdings LLC, and the unraveling that followed October 19 without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Brian Dixon
Organization: Covenant of the Corrected Hour / Meridian Temporal Holdings LLC
Location: Route 9 barn, Millhaven, Putnam County Tennessee
Date: October 19, 2010
Event: discovery of calendar and evidence June 14, 2011

- Brian Dixon paid $4,000 on arrival and made three additional "phase investments" that led to his Cookeville house being liened and transferred.
- Troy Lewis presented himself as a former federal consultant with a graduate credential and called the date October 19, 2010 a scheduled "convergence."
- Members lived on forty-three acres with sleep scheduled in four-hour rotations meals reduced and outside communications restricted.
- Investigators found cassettes and a doctored university transcript in a "Station Director / Background" folder that contradicted Lewis's claimed credentials.
- After Kevin White found the calendar on June 14, 2011 Wagner photographed it the barn files led to Lewis's arrest and a jury convicted him on fourteen counts resulting in a nineteen-year sentence

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181377Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:55 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe calendar was still hanging on the wall when Kevin White walked in A spiral-bound pastoral calendar hung at eye level across from the barn door with every date before October 19, 2010 crossed out and "THE END" written in red on the nineteenth...
A spiral-bound pastoral calendar hung at eye level across from the barn door with every date before October 19, 2010 crossed out and "THE END" written in red on the nineteenth while every date after remained blank - a deliberate message left for whoever came next. Why did roughly forty people rearrange their lives around a scheduled "convergence," hand over homes and phones, and leave that single, impossible artifact where a stranger would find it months later?

In this episode, we trace how Troy Lewis recruited members to the Covenant of the Corrected Hour in Millhaven Tennessee, the financial transfers into Meridian Temporal Holdings LLC, and the unraveling that followed October 19 without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Brian Dixon
Organization: Covenant of the Corrected Hour / Meridian Temporal Holdings LLC
Location: Route 9 barn, Millhaven, Putnam County Tennessee
Date: October 19, 2010
Event: discovery of calendar and evidence June 14, 2011

- Brian Dixon paid $4,000 on arrival and made three additional "phase investments" that led to his Cookeville house being liened and transferred.
- Troy Lewis presented himself as a former federal consultant with a graduate credential and called the date October 19, 2010 a scheduled "convergence."
- Members lived on forty-three acres with sleep scheduled in four-hour rotations meals reduced and outside communications restricted.
- Investigators found cassettes and a doctored university transcript in a "Station Director / Background" folder that contradicted Lewis's claimed credentials.
- After Kevin White found the calendar on June 14, 2011 Wagner photographed it the barn files led to Lewis's arrest and a jury convicted him on fourteen counts resulting in a nineteen-year sentence

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1470falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/set-down-deliberately-as-if-someone-expected-it-to-be-found--73181376
A mid-century Singer sewing machine, threaded and upright in a drainage slope at Mossback Nature Preserve, held a cream index card beneath its presser foot with the block-letter words I AFFIRM MY PLACE IN THE WORK. I RELEASE WHAT WAS MINE. I AM GRATEFUL. Who set that machine there, why was a private vow left in a public preserve, and how did a family heirloom become the hinge that revealed a wider pattern of control and financial extraction?

In this episode, we trace how Todd Mitchell arrived in Dellard, presented a vision of cooperative living, purchased Richardson's Dry Goods and a 220-acre property under the Aldercroft name, and gradually reclassified wages and pooled assets while collecting signed affirmation cards, leading from a sale to federal charges without a single dramatic beginning.

Person: Sharon Richardson
Location: Mossback Nature Preserve, Dellard County, Indiana
Organization: Aldercroft
Date: May 11, 2020 (machine found) and June 9, 2020 (warrant executed)
Status: Mitchell convicted (nine counts) and sentenced to 14 years

- Kimberly Jenkins found the Singer sewing machine in a drainage slope on May 11, 2020 and photographed it before contacting county authorities.
- The cream index card beneath the presser foot matched the template Mitchell required and read I AFFIRM MY PLACE IN THE WORK I RELEASE WHAT WAS MINE I AM GRATEFUL signed in Sharon Richardson's handwriting.
- Todd Mitchell purchased the two-hundred-and-twenty-acre property under the Aldercroft name and reclassified Sharon's pay as a "community stipend" before she moved onto the property in 2016.
- Bank subpoenas showed $190,000 moved from group accounts to a personal Fort Wayne account across thirty-six months labeled with Aldercroft terminology like "alignment distribution."
- Investigators found a storage unit twelve miles from the property containing a filing cabinet with every affirmation card Mitchell had collected and Sharon's card filed with the others.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181376Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:51 +0000Creator at ObomediaSet down, deliberately, as if someone expected it to be found A mid-century Singer sewing machine, threaded and upright in a drainage slope at Mossback Nature Preserve, held a cream index card beneath its presser foot with the block-letter words I...
A mid-century Singer sewing machine, threaded and upright in a drainage slope at Mossback Nature Preserve, held a cream index card beneath its presser foot with the block-letter words I AFFIRM MY PLACE IN THE WORK. I RELEASE WHAT WAS MINE. I AM GRATEFUL. Who set that machine there, why was a private vow left in a public preserve, and how did a family heirloom become the hinge that revealed a wider pattern of control and financial extraction?

In this episode, we trace how Todd Mitchell arrived in Dellard, presented a vision of cooperative living, purchased Richardson's Dry Goods and a 220-acre property under the Aldercroft name, and gradually reclassified wages and pooled assets while collecting signed affirmation cards, leading from a sale to federal charges without a single dramatic beginning.

Person: Sharon Richardson
Location: Mossback Nature Preserve, Dellard County, Indiana
Organization: Aldercroft
Date: May 11, 2020 (machine found) and June 9, 2020 (warrant executed)
Status: Mitchell convicted (nine counts) and sentenced to 14 years

- Kimberly Jenkins found the Singer sewing machine in a drainage slope on May 11, 2020 and photographed it before contacting county authorities.
- The cream index card beneath the presser foot matched the template Mitchell required and read I AFFIRM MY PLACE IN THE WORK I RELEASE WHAT WAS MINE I AM GRATEFUL signed in Sharon Richardson's handwriting.
- Todd Mitchell purchased the two-hundred-and-twenty-acre property under the Aldercroft name and reclassified Sharon's pay as a "community stipend" before she moved onto the property in 2016.
- Bank subpoenas showed $190,000 moved from group accounts to a personal Fort Wayne account across thirty-six months labeled with Aldercroft terminology like "alignment distribution."
- Investigators found a storage unit twelve miles from the property containing a filing cabinet with every affirmation card Mitchell had collected and Sharon's card filed with the others.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1472falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/grant-clark-had-been-fishing-teller-pond-every-friday-morning-for-thirty-years--73181375
A laminated name badge threaded above the waterline on a stranger's trotline broke a thirty-year routine and exposed a carefully constructed system of control on an eleven-acre Ozarks property. Why would a twenty-seven-year-old resident of a wellness program choose a fisherman’s line to send a message instead of calling the county he knew by name?

In this episode, we follow Charles Padgett’s enrollment at Hearthstone, Keith Bauer’s methods of isolation and financial control, and the welfare check that pulled open folders, reversed door handles, and a pattern of withdrawals timed to prevent departures.

Person: Charles Padgett
Organization: Hearthstone (residential program)
Perpetrator: Keith Bauer
Location: Teller Pond, Dunmore County, Missouri
Date: April 2019 (badge found)

- The laminated badge was threaded with garden twine and hung above the waterline on Grant Clark’s trotline on the second Friday of April 2019.
- Charles Padgett paid $4,000 for a thirty-day Hearthstone residency and checked in on February 1, 2019, then his family received no direct contact for six weeks.
- Bauer collected residents’ phones in numbered envelopes locked in his office and kept keys to cabins after ten p.m. with handles installed in reverse.
- The Stewardship Authorization allowed Hearthstone to withdraw $43,000 from six members with each withdrawal occurring the day before a scheduled departure.
- Deputies found a CONTACT RISK folder ranking residents by how likely outside contacts would press for their return, with Charles ranked second next to his eighty-one-year-old grandmother Edna Kopp.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181375Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:48 +0000Creator at ObomediaGrant Clark had been fishing Teller Pond every Friday morning for thirty years A laminated name badge threaded above the waterline on a stranger's trotline broke a thirty-year routine and exposed a carefully constructed system of control on an...
A laminated name badge threaded above the waterline on a stranger's trotline broke a thirty-year routine and exposed a carefully constructed system of control on an eleven-acre Ozarks property. Why would a twenty-seven-year-old resident of a wellness program choose a fisherman’s line to send a message instead of calling the county he knew by name?

In this episode, we follow Charles Padgett’s enrollment at Hearthstone, Keith Bauer’s methods of isolation and financial control, and the welfare check that pulled open folders, reversed door handles, and a pattern of withdrawals timed to prevent departures.

Person: Charles Padgett
Organization: Hearthstone (residential program)
Perpetrator: Keith Bauer
Location: Teller Pond, Dunmore County, Missouri
Date: April 2019 (badge found)

- The laminated badge was threaded with garden twine and hung above the waterline on Grant Clark’s trotline on the second Friday of April 2019.
- Charles Padgett paid $4,000 for a thirty-day Hearthstone residency and checked in on February 1, 2019, then his family received no direct contact for six weeks.
- Bauer collected residents’ phones in numbered envelopes locked in his office and kept keys to cabins after ten p.m. with handles installed in reverse.
- The Stewardship Authorization allowed Hearthstone to withdraw $43,000 from six members with each withdrawal occurring the day before a scheduled departure.
- Deputies found a CONTACT RISK folder ranking residents by how likely outside contacts would press for their return, with Charles ranked second next to his eighty-one-year-old grandmother Edna Kopp.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1468falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-found-three-objects-sitting-inside-a-hollow-water-oak-stump--73181374
On the morning of March 9, county surveyor Vernon Ramsey walked three miles into a stand of water oaks and discovered a pair of reading glasses in a hard case, a spiral notebook of precise ledger entries, and a stamped envelope addressed to the Social Security field office in Memphis. Why would a man with no phone, no unreviewed mail, and no private way to speak assemble and hide a durable, deliberate message in a remote stump - and who did he expect would find it?

In this episode, we trace Vernon Ramsey’s slow, secretive ledger and the twenty-three people who lived under David Walker’s authority on forty leased acres off Aldine Road, following the transfers, the mail runs, the missing persons reports, and the discovery that forced officials onto the property without offering simple answers.

Person: Vernon Ramsey
Person: David Walker
Location: Aldine Road, Cass County, Tennessee
Date: March 9
Event: stump cache with glasses notebook and stamped envelope

- Vernon Ramsey, a 53-year-old county surveyor and draftsman, walked three miles into the northwest corner of the Aldine Road property on March 9 and found the stump cache.
- The spiral notebook contained eighteen months of Provision fund records showing more than $60,000 transferred from the communal account to Walker’s personal account in Paducah.
- Walker controlled the Provision fund, required mail review, enforced 4:30 a.m. prayer, and organized monthly mail runs driven by Carl Putnam into Millhaven.
- Pat Elmore filed a missing persons report for her brother Dennis in October and an investigator visited the gate but lacked legal grounds to enter the property.
- Dennis Elmore, age 47, was later found in a shallow depression behind the equipment barn and had likely suffered an unattended cardiac event approximately four months earlier.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181374Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:43 +0000Creator at Obomediaand found three objects sitting inside a hollow water oak stump On the morning of March 9, county surveyor Vernon Ramsey walked three miles into a stand of water oaks and discovered a pair of reading glasses in a hard case, a spiral notebook of...
On the morning of March 9, county surveyor Vernon Ramsey walked three miles into a stand of water oaks and discovered a pair of reading glasses in a hard case, a spiral notebook of precise ledger entries, and a stamped envelope addressed to the Social Security field office in Memphis. Why would a man with no phone, no unreviewed mail, and no private way to speak assemble and hide a durable, deliberate message in a remote stump - and who did he expect would find it?

In this episode, we trace Vernon Ramsey’s slow, secretive ledger and the twenty-three people who lived under David Walker’s authority on forty leased acres off Aldine Road, following the transfers, the mail runs, the missing persons reports, and the discovery that forced officials onto the property without offering simple answers.

Person: Vernon Ramsey
Person: David Walker
Location: Aldine Road, Cass County, Tennessee
Date: March 9
Event: stump cache with glasses notebook and stamped envelope

- Vernon Ramsey, a 53-year-old county surveyor and draftsman, walked three miles into the northwest corner of the Aldine Road property on March 9 and found the stump cache.
- The spiral notebook contained eighteen months of Provision fund records showing more than $60,000 transferred from the communal account to Walker’s personal account in Paducah.
- Walker controlled the Provision fund, required mail review, enforced 4:30 a.m. prayer, and organized monthly mail runs driven by Carl Putnam into Millhaven.
- Pat Elmore filed a missing persons report for her brother Dennis in October and an investigator visited the gate but lacked legal grounds to enter the property.
- Dennis Elmore, age 47, was later found in a shallow depression behind the equipment barn and had likely suffered an unattended cardiac event approximately four months earlier.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1381falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/outside-the-temperature-had-dropped-to-twenty-nine-degrees-fahrenheit--73181373
A metal lockbox bolted to a cinder-block shelf beneath a converted garage held forty-one sealed manila envelopes, each labeled with a name and a four-digit number - letters members had been told were burned six weeks after an "unburdening" exercise. Why did the program's leader keep them, and what happens when private confessions become leverage instead of release?

In this episode, we trace Dawn Gray's disappearance from a volunteer role to enrollment in the Clarity Systems, the fabricated credentials and fee traps that funded the program, and the investigation that revealed the sealed letters without resolving how the method spread or what restitution ultimately meant for members.

Person: Dawn Gray
Organization: Clarity Systems Inc.
Location: Ashfield Lane converted garage, Dellwood
Date: third week of February (evidence recovery)
Status: Criminal conviction; sentence six years with eligibility for review at four

- Dawn Gray enrolled at a free workshop in August and paid a total of $6,000 before she stopped showing up at her volunteer job.
- The foundational eight-week course cost $420 and the senior coherence level cost $11,000 per year under the Clarity fee structure.
- Todd Edwards, 44, listed a Harmon Institute for Applied Psychology certificate on the wall that was later shown to be fabricated and printed in Columbus.
- A gas inspector's visit produced access to a lockbox where John Hunt found forty-one dry sealed envelopes each labeled with a name and a sequential four-digit number.
- Todd Edwards confessed to fabricating credentials and keeping the letters as "relationship security" and was sentenced to six years with eligibility for review at four.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181373Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:39 +0000Creator at ObomediaOutside, the temperature had dropped to twenty-nine degrees Fahrenheit A metal lockbox bolted to a cinder-block shelf beneath a converted garage held forty-one sealed manila envelopes, each labeled with a name and a four-digit number - letters...
A metal lockbox bolted to a cinder-block shelf beneath a converted garage held forty-one sealed manila envelopes, each labeled with a name and a four-digit number - letters members had been told were burned six weeks after an "unburdening" exercise. Why did the program's leader keep them, and what happens when private confessions become leverage instead of release?

In this episode, we trace Dawn Gray's disappearance from a volunteer role to enrollment in the Clarity Systems, the fabricated credentials and fee traps that funded the program, and the investigation that revealed the sealed letters without resolving how the method spread or what restitution ultimately meant for members.

Person: Dawn Gray
Organization: Clarity Systems Inc.
Location: Ashfield Lane converted garage, Dellwood
Date: third week of February (evidence recovery)
Status: Criminal conviction; sentence six years with eligibility for review at four

- Dawn Gray enrolled at a free workshop in August and paid a total of $6,000 before she stopped showing up at her volunteer job.
- The foundational eight-week course cost $420 and the senior coherence level cost $11,000 per year under the Clarity fee structure.
- Todd Edwards, 44, listed a Harmon Institute for Applied Psychology certificate on the wall that was later shown to be fabricated and printed in Columbus.
- A gas inspector's visit produced access to a lockbox where John Hunt found forty-one dry sealed envelopes each labeled with a name and a sequential four-digit number.
- Todd Edwards confessed to fabricating credentials and keeping the letters as "relationship security" and was sentenced to six years with eligibility for review at four.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1459falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/no-footprints-in-the-snow-in-any-direction--73181371
A pair of white floral canvas sneakers, size seven, sat side by side on a flat rock beside a dry creek bed east of Harkin Flats on January 9, 2011-no footprints, no mud, no snow inside them. A birdwatcher photographed the scene at 7:45 AM in four-degree weather and those images would later travel into criminal and civil courtrooms. How did those shoes become the entry point to a case about belief, control, and a man who built a system that could make people act against their own safety?

In this episode, we trace Jean Young’s path from a weekly dinner at Patsy’s Diner through a distance program and fourteen months at Clearwater Reach under Gordon Bishop and explain how investigators, journalists, and former residents pieced together financial records, a fabricated medical authority, and the compound’s protocols without spoiling the trial outcome.

Person: Jean Young
Person: Gordon Bishop
Location: Clearwater Reach, Harkin County (near Harkin Flats)
Date: January 9, 2011
Event: Item Seven-A - pair of sneakers found on flat rock

- Jean Young left Clearwater Reach on the night of January 7, 2011 and walked barefoot across frozen scrubland before reaching her sister’s apartment.
- Connie Fleming photographed the white floral size seven sneakers at 7:45 AM on January 9, 2011 when the temperature was four degrees Fahrenheit.
- Reporter Jessica Dalton used perimeter drives and supplier Ed Parcell’s ledgers to document escalating bulk orders and a collapse of personal purchases at Clearwater Reach.
- The program manual cited a nonexistent "Dr. Allen Morse" and a "Santa Fe Institute for Integrative Medicine" that had no licensing records across four states.
- Gordon Bishop was convicted on nine counts, sentenced to eleven years, and later told a counselor he never believed any of the doctrine he taught.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181371Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:35 +0000Creator at ObomediaNo footprints in the snow in any direction A pair of white floral canvas sneakers, size seven, sat side by side on a flat rock beside a dry creek bed east of Harkin Flats on January 9, 2011-no footprints, no mud, no snow inside them. A birdwatcher...
A pair of white floral canvas sneakers, size seven, sat side by side on a flat rock beside a dry creek bed east of Harkin Flats on January 9, 2011-no footprints, no mud, no snow inside them. A birdwatcher photographed the scene at 7:45 AM in four-degree weather and those images would later travel into criminal and civil courtrooms. How did those shoes become the entry point to a case about belief, control, and a man who built a system that could make people act against their own safety?

In this episode, we trace Jean Young’s path from a weekly dinner at Patsy’s Diner through a distance program and fourteen months at Clearwater Reach under Gordon Bishop and explain how investigators, journalists, and former residents pieced together financial records, a fabricated medical authority, and the compound’s protocols without spoiling the trial outcome.

Person: Jean Young
Person: Gordon Bishop
Location: Clearwater Reach, Harkin County (near Harkin Flats)
Date: January 9, 2011
Event: Item Seven-A - pair of sneakers found on flat rock

- Jean Young left Clearwater Reach on the night of January 7, 2011 and walked barefoot across frozen scrubland before reaching her sister’s apartment.
- Connie Fleming photographed the white floral size seven sneakers at 7:45 AM on January 9, 2011 when the temperature was four degrees Fahrenheit.
- Reporter Jessica Dalton used perimeter drives and supplier Ed Parcell’s ledgers to document escalating bulk orders and a collapse of personal purchases at Clearwater Reach.
- The program manual cited a nonexistent "Dr. Allen Morse" and a "Santa Fe Institute for Integrative Medicine" that had no licensing records across four states.
- Gordon Bishop was convicted on nine counts, sentenced to eleven years, and later told a counselor he never believed any of the doctrine he taught.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1426falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-table-sat-in-the-snow-outside-the-camp-s-perimeter--73181369
A folding table set with eight plates and eight chairs was found in half an inch of snow at the fence line of Camp Callowell on the morning of December 11, 2009 - a deliberate arrangement with a mason jar of construction-paper flowers at its center that read like an invitation. Who arranged the scene in negative-four-degree dawn, and how did a community of thirty-one adults remain on the property for nearly five years without a single locked door or a single alarm raised?

In this episode, we trace the arc from a pale green flyer and Earl Norris's practiced listening to the Integration Period that kept members present and the slow erosion of autonomy, following the discovery of the table to the investigation that revealed a locked fireproof box and approximately $400,000 in liquidated assets.

Person: Lisa Hall
Location: Camp Callowell, near Sutter Falls Minnesota
Date: December 11, 2009
Event: table with eight place settings found outside camp perimeter
Charge: Earl Norris arrested December 16, 2009 for unlawful restraint financial fraud and criminal exploitation of vulnerable adults

- William Anderson, age 15, discovered the table outside the fence at dawn and rode to the Meridian Avenue substation to report it.
- Connie Marsh left the main lodge around 3:00 AM and set the table with eight settings and a mason jar of construction-paper flowers.
- Members deposited savings into a collective account that later totaled approximately $400,000 according to court documents.
- In February 2010 Norris led investigators to a locked fireproof box under his cabin floor containing financial records identity documents and papers in additional names.
- Diane Elbert filed a Beltrami County statement in 1998 about a retreat where she sewed her car keys into her jacket lining and reported a participant who could not leave and that statement remained in county records until investigators connected it to Callowell.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181369Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:31 +0000Creator at ObomediaA table sat in the snow outside the camp's perimeter A folding table set with eight plates and eight chairs was found in half an inch of snow at the fence line of Camp Callowell on the morning of December 11, 2009 - a deliberate arrangement with a...
A folding table set with eight plates and eight chairs was found in half an inch of snow at the fence line of Camp Callowell on the morning of December 11, 2009 - a deliberate arrangement with a mason jar of construction-paper flowers at its center that read like an invitation. Who arranged the scene in negative-four-degree dawn, and how did a community of thirty-one adults remain on the property for nearly five years without a single locked door or a single alarm raised?

In this episode, we trace the arc from a pale green flyer and Earl Norris's practiced listening to the Integration Period that kept members present and the slow erosion of autonomy, following the discovery of the table to the investigation that revealed a locked fireproof box and approximately $400,000 in liquidated assets.

Person: Lisa Hall
Location: Camp Callowell, near Sutter Falls Minnesota
Date: December 11, 2009
Event: table with eight place settings found outside camp perimeter
Charge: Earl Norris arrested December 16, 2009 for unlawful restraint financial fraud and criminal exploitation of vulnerable adults

- William Anderson, age 15, discovered the table outside the fence at dawn and rode to the Meridian Avenue substation to report it.
- Connie Marsh left the main lodge around 3:00 AM and set the table with eight settings and a mason jar of construction-paper flowers.
- Members deposited savings into a collective account that later totaled approximately $400,000 according to court documents.
- In February 2010 Norris led investigators to a locked fireproof box under his cabin floor containing financial records identity documents and papers in additional names.
- Diane Elbert filed a Beltrami County statement in 1998 about a retreat where she sewed her car keys into her jacket lining and reported a participant who could not leave and that statement remained in county records until investigators connected it to Callowell.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1391falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/it-was-six-forty-in-the-morning-on-november-nineteenth-two-thousand-eleven--73181368
An olive-green steel box, padlocked and double-wrapped in plastic, sat snagged on a culvert gate on County Road F - its nylon rope trailing into the dark pipe as if whoever put it there expected it to stay hidden underwater. Inside was a photograph that unraveled a pattern of repeated deception and a string of revised charters that silently stripped members of their rights. How did a man who preached community and sustainability build a system meant to keep people from leaving?

In this episode, we trace Rachel Phillips's path from a sustainability fair in Appleton to the Siller Creek Cooperative outside Kellner and follow the discovery that Neil Vogel was once Dennis Harber, a man previously judged liable for nearly $400,000 in a nearly identical scheme.

Person: Rachel Phillips
Person: Neil Vogel / formerly Dennis Harber
Location: Siller Creek property outside Kellner, Wauben County Wisconsin
Event: olive-green steel box found in culvert on County Road F
Date: November 19, 2011

- Rachel Phillips moved to Siller Creek in June 2009 and transferred $11,000 and a quarter-acre lot her grandmother owned.
- Investigators found six years of sequential charter drafts in Vogel’s storage unit showing gradual removal of asset-return protections.
- A photograph labeled "Dennis Harber" in the storage unit linked Vogel to a 2001 Dane County civil judgment involving nine victims and approximately $400,000 lost.
- Laura Cox found the padlocked, plastic-wrapped box at 6:40 AM on November 19, 2011 and the box contained three signed deeds and a handwritten charter amendment.
- The Wauben County jury convicted Vogel in August 2012 on counts including fraudulent transfer and identity fraud and he received a fourteen-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181368Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:28 +0000Creator at ObomediaIt was six-forty in the morning on November nineteenth, two thousand eleven An olive-green steel box, padlocked and double-wrapped in plastic, sat snagged on a culvert gate on County Road F - its nylon rope trailing into the dark pipe as if whoever...
An olive-green steel box, padlocked and double-wrapped in plastic, sat snagged on a culvert gate on County Road F - its nylon rope trailing into the dark pipe as if whoever put it there expected it to stay hidden underwater. Inside was a photograph that unraveled a pattern of repeated deception and a string of revised charters that silently stripped members of their rights. How did a man who preached community and sustainability build a system meant to keep people from leaving?

In this episode, we trace Rachel Phillips's path from a sustainability fair in Appleton to the Siller Creek Cooperative outside Kellner and follow the discovery that Neil Vogel was once Dennis Harber, a man previously judged liable for nearly $400,000 in a nearly identical scheme.

Person: Rachel Phillips
Person: Neil Vogel / formerly Dennis Harber
Location: Siller Creek property outside Kellner, Wauben County Wisconsin
Event: olive-green steel box found in culvert on County Road F
Date: November 19, 2011

- Rachel Phillips moved to Siller Creek in June 2009 and transferred $11,000 and a quarter-acre lot her grandmother owned.
- Investigators found six years of sequential charter drafts in Vogel’s storage unit showing gradual removal of asset-return protections.
- A photograph labeled "Dennis Harber" in the storage unit linked Vogel to a 2001 Dane County civil judgment involving nine victims and approximately $400,000 lost.
- Laura Cox found the padlocked, plastic-wrapped box at 6:40 AM on November 19, 2011 and the box contained three signed deeds and a handwritten charter amendment.
- The Wauben County jury convicted Vogel in August 2012 on counts including fraudulent transfer and identity fraud and he received a fourteen-year sentence.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1357falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-smell-of-old-timber-reached-tracy-tillman-before-he-saw-anything--73181367
A utility lineman opened a padlocked rehearsal barn and found thirty-two music stands arranged in a horseshoe, each score open to a final page marked in red ink with a name and the same date. The scene looked like a sealed farewell, but the barn had been engineered with a secret exit and its supposed author was already in custody two days earlier - what was the barn meant to prove, and who had it been staged for?

In this episode, we trace how "Todd Griffin" built The Scored Word, the converted dairy farm residency for composers and performers, the real compositions that underwrote his scheme, and the discovery that reframed those final pages as evidence rather than ritual.

Person: Thomas Griffen (alias "Todd Griffin")
Location: Converted dairy farm outside Cavender, western Virginia
Event: barn discovered with thirty-two open scores
Date: discovery in third week of October 2019
Status: Convicted (sentenced to eleven years in 2021)

- Tracy Tillman was dispatched in the third week of October 2019 and found the rehearsal barn padlocked from the outside.
- Inside were thirty-two music stands in a horseshoe pattern each open to a final page signed in red ink with the same date.
- Members paid refundable residency contributions into an account held under the name James Coffield which investigators later tied to fraud.
- Musicologist Patricia Weng examined twelve scores and found them structurally sound and genuinely accomplished in written opinion.
- Griffin was detained at a Knoxville bus depot on Sunday evening and had been in custody two days before the barn was discovered.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181367Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:23 +0000Creator at ObomediaThe smell of old timber reached Tracy Tillman before he saw anything A utility lineman opened a padlocked rehearsal barn and found thirty-two music stands arranged in a horseshoe, each score open to a final page marked in red ink with a name and...
A utility lineman opened a padlocked rehearsal barn and found thirty-two music stands arranged in a horseshoe, each score open to a final page marked in red ink with a name and the same date. The scene looked like a sealed farewell, but the barn had been engineered with a secret exit and its supposed author was already in custody two days earlier - what was the barn meant to prove, and who had it been staged for?

In this episode, we trace how "Todd Griffin" built The Scored Word, the converted dairy farm residency for composers and performers, the real compositions that underwrote his scheme, and the discovery that reframed those final pages as evidence rather than ritual.

Person: Thomas Griffen (alias "Todd Griffin")
Location: Converted dairy farm outside Cavender, western Virginia
Event: barn discovered with thirty-two open scores
Date: discovery in third week of October 2019
Status: Convicted (sentenced to eleven years in 2021)

- Tracy Tillman was dispatched in the third week of October 2019 and found the rehearsal barn padlocked from the outside.
- Inside were thirty-two music stands in a horseshoe pattern each open to a final page signed in red ink with the same date.
- Members paid refundable residency contributions into an account held under the name James Coffield which investigators later tied to fraud.
- Musicologist Patricia Weng examined twelve scores and found them structurally sound and genuinely accomplished in written opinion.
- Griffin was detained at a Knoxville bus depot on Sunday evening and had been in custody two days before the barn was discovered.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1353falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/same-road-same-pace-same-seven-minute-miles-through-the-edge-of-callender-pines--73181366
A chrome IV pole with an empty drip bag labeled "CLEARANCE PROTOCOL - CYCLE 7" stood on the gravel shoulder of Callender Pines at 6:15 AM on a September Tuesday and opened a nine-year gap in accountability. Who had carried clinical equipment across a cut fence and left a single pole on a runner’s route and what did that abandoned piece of gear reveal about a secretive program operating out of a former bed-and-breakfast?

In this episode, we follow Cynthia Hughes’s discovery from the pole to the Ardenne House, trace Kimberly Morris’s path into the Clearance Foundation and the Suite, and connect a dormant Weller County file to thirteen poles found in a storage unit without ever revealing how many people sat in that chair after Cycle 7.

Person: Kimberly Morris
Organization: Clearance Foundation / Ardenne House
Location: Callender Pines / Dunmore
Event: discovery of IV pole labeled “CLEARANCE PROTOCOL - CYCLE 7”
Date: September (discovery) and prior Weller County case nine years earlier

- Cynthia Hughes found the IV pole at 6:15 AM on a Tuesday in September and called Dunmore police at 6:22 AM.
- The drip bag on the pole was labeled in hand-printed capitals "CLEARANCE PROTOCOL - CYCLE 7" with no patient or hospital information.
- Kimberly Morris moved into the Ardenne House in January and entered the locked Suite for a clearance session in April.
- Investigators recovered thirteen IV poles and a rolling cabinet with amber bottles from a storage unit rented under Warren Smith’s name eight miles from the property.
- Warren Smith was convicted on eleven counts including unlicensed medical practice and received a nineteen-year sentence after forensic testing showed the amber bottles contained mineral concentrations inconsistent with recognized therapeutic use.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181366Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:19 +0000Creator at ObomediaSame road, same pace, same seven-minute miles through the edge of Callender Pines A chrome IV pole with an empty drip bag labeled "CLEARANCE PROTOCOL - CYCLE 7" stood on the gravel shoulder of Callender Pines at 6:15 AM on a September Tuesday and...
A chrome IV pole with an empty drip bag labeled "CLEARANCE PROTOCOL - CYCLE 7" stood on the gravel shoulder of Callender Pines at 6:15 AM on a September Tuesday and opened a nine-year gap in accountability. Who had carried clinical equipment across a cut fence and left a single pole on a runner’s route and what did that abandoned piece of gear reveal about a secretive program operating out of a former bed-and-breakfast?

In this episode, we follow Cynthia Hughes’s discovery from the pole to the Ardenne House, trace Kimberly Morris’s path into the Clearance Foundation and the Suite, and connect a dormant Weller County file to thirteen poles found in a storage unit without ever revealing how many people sat in that chair after Cycle 7.

Person: Kimberly Morris
Organization: Clearance Foundation / Ardenne House
Location: Callender Pines / Dunmore
Event: discovery of IV pole labeled “CLEARANCE PROTOCOL - CYCLE 7”
Date: September (discovery) and prior Weller County case nine years earlier

- Cynthia Hughes found the IV pole at 6:15 AM on a Tuesday in September and called Dunmore police at 6:22 AM.
- The drip bag on the pole was labeled in hand-printed capitals "CLEARANCE PROTOCOL - CYCLE 7" with no patient or hospital information.
- Kimberly Morris moved into the Ardenne House in January and entered the locked Suite for a clearance session in April.
- Investigators recovered thirteen IV poles and a rolling cabinet with amber bottles from a storage unit rented under Warren Smith’s name eight miles from the property.
- Warren Smith was convicted on eleven counts including unlicensed medical practice and received a nineteen-year sentence after forensic testing showed the amber bottles contained mineral concentrations inconsistent with recognized therapeutic use.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1393falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-seven-fifteen-on-a-tuesday-morning-in-august-of-two-thousand-eleven--73181365
At 7:15 a.m. Monica Perry turned down Building C's east corridor and found thirty-seven metal folding chairs in a perfect inward circle each holding a single left-hand white cotton glove with the thumb pointing up and a laminated card in the center that read "THE FLOOR BELONGS TO THOSE WHO KNOW ITS WEIGHT." Who arranged the chairs and why did a quiet night press operator become the man at the center of a staged ceremony that exposed a wider fraud?

In this episode, we trace how Mark Doyle became the emotional core of the Iron Floor Brotherhood, how Edward Hughes manufactured a fake industrial lineage, and how a Terre Haute copy shop receipt and a company registration unraveled forty-one thousand dollars in collected dues without a single payout.

Person: Mark Doyle
Person: Edward Hughes
Event: thirty-seven chairs and one laminated card found
Date: August 2011 (card found), June 2009 (copy shop receipt)
Amount: $41,000

- Monica Perry discovered the circle of thirty-seven chairs with left-hand gloves and the laminated card at 7:15 AM on a Tuesday in August 2011.
- Badge number 1147 registered to Mark Doyle swiped fourteen times across Building C between 11:20 PM and 4:47 AM the night before the chairs were found.
- The Iron Floor Brotherhood collected $41,000 over fourteen months and never paid a documented mutual-aid claim.
- A Terre Haute copy shop receipt dated June 2009 documented 230 pages printed and laminated more than a year before Hughes arrived at Calloway Fabrications.
- Edward Hughes pleaded guilty to four counts of theft by deception and one count of unlawful operation of a money-lending business and was sentenced to four years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181365Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:15 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt seven fifteen on a Tuesday morning in August of two thousand eleven At 7:15 a.m. Monica Perry turned down Building C's east corridor and found thirty-seven metal folding chairs in a perfect inward circle each holding a single left-hand white...
At 7:15 a.m. Monica Perry turned down Building C's east corridor and found thirty-seven metal folding chairs in a perfect inward circle each holding a single left-hand white cotton glove with the thumb pointing up and a laminated card in the center that read "THE FLOOR BELONGS TO THOSE WHO KNOW ITS WEIGHT." Who arranged the chairs and why did a quiet night press operator become the man at the center of a staged ceremony that exposed a wider fraud?

In this episode, we trace how Mark Doyle became the emotional core of the Iron Floor Brotherhood, how Edward Hughes manufactured a fake industrial lineage, and how a Terre Haute copy shop receipt and a company registration unraveled forty-one thousand dollars in collected dues without a single payout.

Person: Mark Doyle
Person: Edward Hughes
Event: thirty-seven chairs and one laminated card found
Date: August 2011 (card found), June 2009 (copy shop receipt)
Amount: $41,000

- Monica Perry discovered the circle of thirty-seven chairs with left-hand gloves and the laminated card at 7:15 AM on a Tuesday in August 2011.
- Badge number 1147 registered to Mark Doyle swiped fourteen times across Building C between 11:20 PM and 4:47 AM the night before the chairs were found.
- The Iron Floor Brotherhood collected $41,000 over fourteen months and never paid a documented mutual-aid claim.
- A Terre Haute copy shop receipt dated June 2009 documented 230 pages printed and laminated more than a year before Hughes arrived at Calloway Fabrications.
- Edward Hughes pleaded guilty to four counts of theft by deception and one count of unlawful operation of a money-lending business and was sentenced to four years.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1324falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/it-had-rained-for-two-days-straight-in-callum-falls-ohio--73181364
Forty-one cream-colored journals stood in a circle on cracked asphalt, each one open to the first page and perfectly dry despite two days of rain. Who arranged them, why had every page been filled with the same line, and what did a square of plastic beneath each book reveal about the person who left them there?

In this episode, we trace how Lisa Fitzgerald, a former trade copyeditor who joined the Halloway Press in 2005, used her archivist knowledge to build an evidence package that exposed Steven York’s decade-long fraud and mail interception without alerting anyone inside the house.

Person: Lisa Fitzgerald
Organization: Halloway Press
Person: Steven York
Location: Callum Falls, Ohio
Date: July 14-16, 2009

- Tracy Nelson found forty-one cream-colored journals on Emerson Street at 8:47 AM on July 14, 2009 and called police within minutes.
- Each journal was open to page one and contained the repeated sentence "I give my words freely and without reservation to the Press" in different hands.
- A repairman found a basement box labeled "OUTGOING" and 112 pieces of undelivered correspondence were recovered on July 16, 2009.
- Investigators matched the journals’ paper stock to a supplier linked to the Press and York’s ledger documented intercepted mail with editorial notations.
- Steven York was arrested July 16, 2009 after a storage unit revealed a 1992 rejection letter and files showing he had fabricated an academic publishing career over more than a decade.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181364Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:11 +0000Creator at ObomediaIt had rained for two days straight in Callum Falls, Ohio Forty-one cream-colored journals stood in a circle on cracked asphalt, each one open to the first page and perfectly dry despite two days of rain. Who arranged them, why had every page been...
Forty-one cream-colored journals stood in a circle on cracked asphalt, each one open to the first page and perfectly dry despite two days of rain. Who arranged them, why had every page been filled with the same line, and what did a square of plastic beneath each book reveal about the person who left them there?

In this episode, we trace how Lisa Fitzgerald, a former trade copyeditor who joined the Halloway Press in 2005, used her archivist knowledge to build an evidence package that exposed Steven York’s decade-long fraud and mail interception without alerting anyone inside the house.

Person: Lisa Fitzgerald
Organization: Halloway Press
Person: Steven York
Location: Callum Falls, Ohio
Date: July 14-16, 2009

- Tracy Nelson found forty-one cream-colored journals on Emerson Street at 8:47 AM on July 14, 2009 and called police within minutes.
- Each journal was open to page one and contained the repeated sentence "I give my words freely and without reservation to the Press" in different hands.
- A repairman found a basement box labeled "OUTGOING" and 112 pieces of undelivered correspondence were recovered on July 16, 2009.
- Investigators matched the journals’ paper stock to a supplier linked to the Press and York’s ledger documented intercepted mail with editorial notations.
- Steven York was arrested July 16, 2009 after a storage unit revealed a 1992 rejection letter and files showing he had fabricated an academic publishing career over more than a decade.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1397falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/on-a-monday-morning-in-june-of-two-thousand-nineteen--73181362
A retired greyhound named Pepper pulled a leash hard toward a stand of brush on Canopy Fork Trail and uncovered a waterproof folder buried just below the leaf surface containing financial records and a handwritten membership roster of fourteen names. That folder linked an alias, property documents, and escalating contribution schedules to a prepared underground installation - but how did a man build a sealed world beneath a shed and convince thirteen adults it was safer than the surface?

In this episode, we trace the Coalition from a hardware-store flyer and Saturday preparedness sessions to a twelve-acre property in Wadlow County and the underground compound where thirteen people lived; we follow Heather Coleman’s recruitment, escape, and testimony and examine the decade-long plan Ross Turner described in his post-appeal interview without revealing every courtroom detail.

Person: Heather Coleman
Person: Ross Turner
Location: Canopy Fork Trail and Wadlow County property
Date: June 14-17, 2019
Status: Convicted (unlawful imprisonment financial fraud conspiracy)

- Pepper the greyhound found the waterproof folder on June 14, 2019 forty feet off the Canopy Fork Trail.
- The folder contained financial records property agreements and a handwritten membership roster with fourteen names.
- Thirteen people were discovered thirty feet underground on the Wadlow County property during a search warrant executed June 17, 2019.
- Ross Turner was convicted and sentenced to twenty-two years for unlawful imprisonment financial fraud and conspiracy and lost two appeals by 2023.
- Turner told investigators in 2023 that he began planning the underground installation in 2009 and named Heather Coleman as the recruitment profile he had been seeking.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181362Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:07 +0000Creator at ObomediaOn a Monday morning in June of two thousand nineteen A retired greyhound named Pepper pulled a leash hard toward a stand of brush on Canopy Fork Trail and uncovered a waterproof folder buried just below the leaf surface containing financial records...
A retired greyhound named Pepper pulled a leash hard toward a stand of brush on Canopy Fork Trail and uncovered a waterproof folder buried just below the leaf surface containing financial records and a handwritten membership roster of fourteen names. That folder linked an alias, property documents, and escalating contribution schedules to a prepared underground installation - but how did a man build a sealed world beneath a shed and convince thirteen adults it was safer than the surface?

In this episode, we trace the Coalition from a hardware-store flyer and Saturday preparedness sessions to a twelve-acre property in Wadlow County and the underground compound where thirteen people lived; we follow Heather Coleman’s recruitment, escape, and testimony and examine the decade-long plan Ross Turner described in his post-appeal interview without revealing every courtroom detail.

Person: Heather Coleman
Person: Ross Turner
Location: Canopy Fork Trail and Wadlow County property
Date: June 14-17, 2019
Status: Convicted (unlawful imprisonment financial fraud conspiracy)

- Pepper the greyhound found the waterproof folder on June 14, 2019 forty feet off the Canopy Fork Trail.
- The folder contained financial records property agreements and a handwritten membership roster with fourteen names.
- Thirteen people were discovered thirty feet underground on the Wadlow County property during a search warrant executed June 17, 2019.
- Ross Turner was convicted and sentenced to twenty-two years for unlawful imprisonment financial fraud and conspiracy and lost two appeals by 2023.
- Turner told investigators in 2023 that he began planning the underground installation in 2009 and named Heather Coleman as the recruitment profile he had been seeking.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1310falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/and-noticed-something-wedged-against-a-root-on-the-riverbank--73181361
At 5:40 AM a fisherman on the Sable Fork pulled a waterlogged spiral notebook from the south bend and found names, dollar amounts, degrees, and a brief clinical note beside one entry: "fully stabilized." How did a ledger tossed into a river expose six years of methodical deception built around fabricated archives, timed financial asks, and the tracking of members' outside relationships?

In this episode, we trace Thomas Casey and the Lineage Covenant Society from a forged 1804 land grant in a Dellard library to the ledger that mapped payments and interpersonal metrics, asking how belonging became a system of extraction without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Thomas Casey
Location: Dellard, Maben County
Event: ledger recovered from Sable Fork
Date: May 14, 2019
Status: Arrested (nine days after ledger recovery)

- Howard Rice pulled the waterlogged spiral notebook from the south bend of the Sable Fork at 5:40 AM on May 14, 2019 and called the Sheriff at 6:12 AM.
- Thomas Casey arrived in Dellard in 2012 and formed the Lineage Covenant Society with a first public meeting in spring 2013 at the public library.
- An archival expert at the State Historical Society determined in eleven days that the 1804 land grant Casey displayed was a fabrication due to a typographic abbreviation not used until the 1860s.
- The identified member loans without documented repayment terms exceeded $80,000 and one member Frank Aldrich took a $30,000 second mortgage used as a supposed loan to the Society.
- Janet Barrett's ledger entry included the phrases "fully stabilized" and "sister contact reduced to minimal" documenting fourteen months without contact with her sister.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181361Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:33:03 +0000Creator at Obomediaand noticed something wedged against a root on the riverbank At 5:40 AM a fisherman on the Sable Fork pulled a waterlogged spiral notebook from the south bend and found names, dollar amounts, degrees, and a brief clinical note beside one entry:...
At 5:40 AM a fisherman on the Sable Fork pulled a waterlogged spiral notebook from the south bend and found names, dollar amounts, degrees, and a brief clinical note beside one entry: "fully stabilized." How did a ledger tossed into a river expose six years of methodical deception built around fabricated archives, timed financial asks, and the tracking of members' outside relationships?

In this episode, we trace Thomas Casey and the Lineage Covenant Society from a forged 1804 land grant in a Dellard library to the ledger that mapped payments and interpersonal metrics, asking how belonging became a system of extraction without revealing every courtroom moment.

Person: Thomas Casey
Location: Dellard, Maben County
Event: ledger recovered from Sable Fork
Date: May 14, 2019
Status: Arrested (nine days after ledger recovery)

- Howard Rice pulled the waterlogged spiral notebook from the south bend of the Sable Fork at 5:40 AM on May 14, 2019 and called the Sheriff at 6:12 AM.
- Thomas Casey arrived in Dellard in 2012 and formed the Lineage Covenant Society with a first public meeting in spring 2013 at the public library.
- An archival expert at the State Historical Society determined in eleven days that the 1804 land grant Casey displayed was a fabrication due to a typographic abbreviation not used until the 1860s.
- The identified member loans without documented repayment terms exceeded $80,000 and one member Frank Aldrich took a $30,000 second mortgage used as a supposed loan to the Society.
- Janet Barrett's ledger entry included the phrases "fully stabilized" and "sister contact reduced to minimal" documenting fourteen months without contact with her sister.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1296falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/what-he-found-inside-that-thicket-had-nothing-to-do-with-property-lines--73181360
A land surveyor pushing through a cedar thicket on a sixty-acre Ridgeline Road parcel in April 2009 stumbled on a shipping container sunk into a hillside and thirty-seven impeccably made cots each bearing a laminated card telling the reader to "rest, release prior obligations, await further direction." Who had built a sealed staging site with ready beds and volunteer psychology waiting inside it and for whom had it been intended?

In this episode, we trace Clearwater Response Corps from a community preparedness fair to the leadership of Leon A. Ford, the creation of Meridian Land Holdings, and the financial and administrative moves that converted volunteer goodwill into personal property without revealing the full purpose of the container.

Person: Marcia Collins
Organization: Clearwater Response Corps
Person: Leon A. Ford
Location: Ridgeline Road parcel, Dellard County Tennessee
Date: container discovered April 2009

- Todd Stroud photographed a shipping container with its door open and thirty-seven made cots before calling the sheriff in April 2009.
- Each cot held a laminated card attributed to "the Coordinator" instructing the reader to rest release prior obligations and await further direction.
- Clearwater members had received identical laminated cards at workshops years before the container was found.
- Meridian Land Holdings bought the sixty-acre parcel in 2007 for $82,000 and the same month quit-claimed it to Leon A. Ford's personal holdings.
- Leon A. Ford was convicted on seven counts in 2009 and sentenced to eleven years with seven served while the concrete pad on Ridgeline Road remains in place.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181360Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:32:59 +0000Creator at ObomediaWhat he found inside that thicket had nothing to do with property lines A land surveyor pushing through a cedar thicket on a sixty-acre Ridgeline Road parcel in April 2009 stumbled on a shipping container sunk into a hillside and thirty-seven...
A land surveyor pushing through a cedar thicket on a sixty-acre Ridgeline Road parcel in April 2009 stumbled on a shipping container sunk into a hillside and thirty-seven impeccably made cots each bearing a laminated card telling the reader to "rest, release prior obligations, await further direction." Who had built a sealed staging site with ready beds and volunteer psychology waiting inside it and for whom had it been intended?

In this episode, we trace Clearwater Response Corps from a community preparedness fair to the leadership of Leon A. Ford, the creation of Meridian Land Holdings, and the financial and administrative moves that converted volunteer goodwill into personal property without revealing the full purpose of the container.

Person: Marcia Collins
Organization: Clearwater Response Corps
Person: Leon A. Ford
Location: Ridgeline Road parcel, Dellard County Tennessee
Date: container discovered April 2009

- Todd Stroud photographed a shipping container with its door open and thirty-seven made cots before calling the sheriff in April 2009.
- Each cot held a laminated card attributed to "the Coordinator" instructing the reader to rest release prior obligations and await further direction.
- Clearwater members had received identical laminated cards at workshops years before the container was found.
- Meridian Land Holdings bought the sixty-acre parcel in 2007 for $82,000 and the same month quit-claimed it to Leon A. Ford's personal holdings.
- Leon A. Ford was convicted on seven counts in 2009 and sentenced to eleven years with seven served while the concrete pad on Ridgeline Road remains in place.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1299falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/black-and-white-marbled-covers-the-kind-sold-for-a-dollar-at-any-drugstore--73181359
A plumber finds an equipment shed door standing ajar and discovers forty-one composition notebooks stacked on a shelf, each labeled with a resident’s name and a week count from Clearwater Recovery Home. The notebooks were issued at intake, never returned, and stored behind a padlocked hasp - but why was the house unlocked and the shed secured, and what did those daily pages really record?

In this episode, we trace how Kevin Barnes built a pattern of small rural programs across four states, how monitored phone calls and mandatory daily writing became tools of surveillance, and how one man’s off-plumb curiosity in week six and a contractor’s photo set a criminal investigation in motion without revealing every answer.

Person: Kevin Barnes
Location: Dellwood, Sutter Basin County California
Date: equipment shed discovered March 2019
Event: forty-one composition notebooks recovered
Outcome: Barnes convicted of seven counts of fraud in spring 2020

- The shed door was found open on March 11, 2019 and contained forty-one black-and-white marbled composition books stacked on a wooden shelf.
- Each notebook was filled front to back in the same handwriting style and labeled with a resident’s name and the number of weeks they had lived at Clearwater.
- Barnes locked the shed with a hasp padlock while the main house had no equivalent lock and he had repaired the shed roof three years before residents arrived.
- Russell Reed noticed a crooked certificate in Barnes’s office during week six and left Clearwater after eleven months without reporting that detail to authorities.
- The Sutter Basin Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation after journalist Alan Crawford’s reporting and a plumber’s photograph led to Barnes’s arrest in Modoc County in September 2019.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181359Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:32:55 +0000Creator at ObomediaBlack-and-white marbled covers, the kind sold for a dollar at any drugstore A plumber finds an equipment shed door standing ajar and discovers forty-one composition notebooks stacked on a shelf, each labeled with a resident’s name and a week count...
A plumber finds an equipment shed door standing ajar and discovers forty-one composition notebooks stacked on a shelf, each labeled with a resident’s name and a week count from Clearwater Recovery Home. The notebooks were issued at intake, never returned, and stored behind a padlocked hasp - but why was the house unlocked and the shed secured, and what did those daily pages really record?

In this episode, we trace how Kevin Barnes built a pattern of small rural programs across four states, how monitored phone calls and mandatory daily writing became tools of surveillance, and how one man’s off-plumb curiosity in week six and a contractor’s photo set a criminal investigation in motion without revealing every answer.

Person: Kevin Barnes
Location: Dellwood, Sutter Basin County California
Date: equipment shed discovered March 2019
Event: forty-one composition notebooks recovered
Outcome: Barnes convicted of seven counts of fraud in spring 2020

- The shed door was found open on March 11, 2019 and contained forty-one black-and-white marbled composition books stacked on a wooden shelf.
- Each notebook was filled front to back in the same handwriting style and labeled with a resident’s name and the number of weeks they had lived at Clearwater.
- Barnes locked the shed with a hasp padlock while the main house had no equivalent lock and he had repaired the shed roof three years before residents arrived.
- Russell Reed noticed a crooked certificate in Barnes’s office during week six and left Clearwater after eleven months without reporting that detail to authorities.
- The Sutter Basin Sheriff’s Office opened an investigation after journalist Alan Crawford’s reporting and a plumber’s photograph led to Barnes’s arrest in Modoc County in September 2019.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1315falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-six-forty-seven-in-the-morning-heather-kowalski-was-looking-for-birds--73181357
A bone-dry painting sat on a freezing loading dock while the concrete around it sweated with thawing ice - a small physical impossibility that pulled open a four-year story of trust, misdirection, and financial manipulation at Voss Works. How did a carefully constructed language of devotion and scarcity keep artists inside a building with unlocked doors until a photograph, a key found by accident, and a cold morning forced questions into a courtroom?

In this episode, we follow the sequence from the dry painting on the dock to the investigation that exposed Kevin Brooks's pattern of fabricated credentials and diversion of community funds, tracing key residents, the lodged evidence, and how the case moved from private doubt to public accountability.

Person: Kevin Brooks
Location: Voss Works, Creston Township, Kellner County
Date: February 10, 2011 (painting found at 6:47 AM)
Event: forensic accounting traced transfers exceeding $90,000
Status: Criminal conviction for four counts of fraud (2012)

- Kevin Brooks signed the lease for the forty-thousand-square-foot Voss Fabrication space in spring 2007 and ran a below-market artist community.
- Residents paid a monthly contribution of $300 into a community account that Brooks alone controlled.
- Tom Echols discovered a falsified accounting sheet after an $11,000 ceramic sale and left Voss Works in January 2011.
- Julie Larsen found a key in Brooks's cabinet, accessed the archive on February 9, 2011, and placed Sandra Vance's painting on the loading dock that night.
- At 6:47 AM on February 10, 2011 Heather Kowalski found the painting bone dry on a wet, dripping dock and she called the Creston Township non-emergency line.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181357Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:32:51 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt six forty-seven in the morning, Heather Kowalski was looking for birds A bone-dry painting sat on a freezing loading dock while the concrete around it sweated with thawing ice - a small physical impossibility that pulled open a four-year story...
A bone-dry painting sat on a freezing loading dock while the concrete around it sweated with thawing ice - a small physical impossibility that pulled open a four-year story of trust, misdirection, and financial manipulation at Voss Works. How did a carefully constructed language of devotion and scarcity keep artists inside a building with unlocked doors until a photograph, a key found by accident, and a cold morning forced questions into a courtroom?

In this episode, we follow the sequence from the dry painting on the dock to the investigation that exposed Kevin Brooks's pattern of fabricated credentials and diversion of community funds, tracing key residents, the lodged evidence, and how the case moved from private doubt to public accountability.

Person: Kevin Brooks
Location: Voss Works, Creston Township, Kellner County
Date: February 10, 2011 (painting found at 6:47 AM)
Event: forensic accounting traced transfers exceeding $90,000
Status: Criminal conviction for four counts of fraud (2012)

- Kevin Brooks signed the lease for the forty-thousand-square-foot Voss Fabrication space in spring 2007 and ran a below-market artist community.
- Residents paid a monthly contribution of $300 into a community account that Brooks alone controlled.
- Tom Echols discovered a falsified accounting sheet after an $11,000 ceramic sale and left Voss Works in January 2011.
- Julie Larsen found a key in Brooks's cabinet, accessed the archive on February 9, 2011, and placed Sandra Vance's painting on the loading dock that night.
- At 6:47 AM on February 10, 2011 Heather Kowalski found the painting bone dry on a wet, dripping dock and she called the Creston Township non-emergency line.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1338falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/he-stopped-because-something-was-in-the-road--73181356
A full kitchen table set for breakfast - two ceramic bowls, folded napkins embroidered with a small wren, a glass pitcher of orange juice beginning to ice, and a burned-down brass candle - sat on a gravel access road at 4:50 AM on a nineteen-degree January morning. Who arranged a covenant meal in the cold and then walked away, and what did that abandoned ritual reveal about the structure that produced it?

In this episode, we trace how a late-night radio show called The Open Signal and its host Steven Tucker built the Wren Institute over nearly a decade, how members were narrowed into isolation, and why two women left the covenant meal unfinished without the ritual ever being completed.

Person: Steven Tucker
Organization: The Wren Institute
Location: Gypsum Creek Lane compound, Colburn Oregon
Date: January 20, 2009
Investigator: Det. Ray Morales

- Gregory Thompson, age 15, found the fully set table on a gravel access road at 4:50 AM on January 20, 2009.
- The table included two bowls with oats flaxseed and dried cranberry residue consistent with the Institute's morning calibration meal.
- Amy Voss, age 23, set the table alone at approximately 1:00 AM and waited for the covenant ceremony that never occurred.
- Susan Hoffman had moved into the converted barn dormitory in September 2004 and sent more than $4,000 to the nonprofit including her savings balance.
- Steven Tucker pleaded guilty in August 2009 to twelve counts of fraud and one count of unlawful confinement and was sentenced to nine years with two additional assault counts added after a 2010 DNA match.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181356Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:32:47 +0000Creator at ObomediaHe stopped because something was in the road A full kitchen table set for breakfast - two ceramic bowls, folded napkins embroidered with a small wren, a glass pitcher of orange juice beginning to ice, and a burned-down brass candle - sat on a...
A full kitchen table set for breakfast - two ceramic bowls, folded napkins embroidered with a small wren, a glass pitcher of orange juice beginning to ice, and a burned-down brass candle - sat on a gravel access road at 4:50 AM on a nineteen-degree January morning. Who arranged a covenant meal in the cold and then walked away, and what did that abandoned ritual reveal about the structure that produced it?

In this episode, we trace how a late-night radio show called The Open Signal and its host Steven Tucker built the Wren Institute over nearly a decade, how members were narrowed into isolation, and why two women left the covenant meal unfinished without the ritual ever being completed.

Person: Steven Tucker
Organization: The Wren Institute
Location: Gypsum Creek Lane compound, Colburn Oregon
Date: January 20, 2009
Investigator: Det. Ray Morales

- Gregory Thompson, age 15, found the fully set table on a gravel access road at 4:50 AM on January 20, 2009.
- The table included two bowls with oats flaxseed and dried cranberry residue consistent with the Institute's morning calibration meal.
- Amy Voss, age 23, set the table alone at approximately 1:00 AM and waited for the covenant ceremony that never occurred.
- Susan Hoffman had moved into the converted barn dormitory in September 2004 and sent more than $4,000 to the nonprofit including her savings balance.
- Steven Tucker pleaded guilty in August 2009 to twelve counts of fraud and one count of unlawful confinement and was sentenced to nine years with two additional assault counts added after a 2010 DNA match.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1368falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/at-six-twenty-in-the-morning-on-a-tuesday-in-december-two-thousand-eleven--73181354
A metal strongbox half-buried in roadside snow held thirty-one homeschooling completion certificates, the youngest issued to a four-year-old enrolled at eighteen months - a discovery that unspooled a decade-long closed community. Who carried that box out of the forty-two-acre Residence in the dark, why was it left at the road, and what did those certificates hide about the children they claimed to educate?

In this episode, we trace the rise and collapse of the Groundwork Circle under Howard Edwards, the private company Substrate Educational Systems, the isolation protocol called "clearing," and the reporting that converged on the Residence without revealing every unanswered question.

Person: Howard Edwards
Organization: Substrate Educational Systems LLC
Location: Residence, Pemberton County
Date: December 14, 2011 (box left) / February 3, 2012 (arrest)
Status: Convicted - 14 year sentence (fraud and child maltreatment)

- Rachel Carter found a metal strongbox at 6:20 AM on Merritt Hollow Road containing thirty-one homeschooling certificates on December 14, 2011.
- Lily Webb's certificate "Foundation Level Zero" listed enrollment at eighteen months and was entered as exhibit one in the case.
- Families paid $14,000 each annually to the cooperative with licensing fees routed to Edwards's company approved by an internal board.
- A bound notebook seized from a locked cabinet recorded clearings by name, date, duration, and Edwards's clinical assessments.
- Howard Edwards confessed to financial fraud and isolation practices and received a fourteen year sentence eligible for parole review after nine.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181354Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:32:43 +0000Creator at ObomediaAt six twenty in the morning on a Tuesday in December two thousand eleven A metal strongbox half-buried in roadside snow held thirty-one homeschooling completion certificates, the youngest issued to a four-year-old enrolled at eighteen months - a...
A metal strongbox half-buried in roadside snow held thirty-one homeschooling completion certificates, the youngest issued to a four-year-old enrolled at eighteen months - a discovery that unspooled a decade-long closed community. Who carried that box out of the forty-two-acre Residence in the dark, why was it left at the road, and what did those certificates hide about the children they claimed to educate?

In this episode, we trace the rise and collapse of the Groundwork Circle under Howard Edwards, the private company Substrate Educational Systems, the isolation protocol called "clearing," and the reporting that converged on the Residence without revealing every unanswered question.

Person: Howard Edwards
Organization: Substrate Educational Systems LLC
Location: Residence, Pemberton County
Date: December 14, 2011 (box left) / February 3, 2012 (arrest)
Status: Convicted - 14 year sentence (fraud and child maltreatment)

- Rachel Carter found a metal strongbox at 6:20 AM on Merritt Hollow Road containing thirty-one homeschooling certificates on December 14, 2011.
- Lily Webb's certificate "Foundation Level Zero" listed enrollment at eighteen months and was entered as exhibit one in the case.
- Families paid $14,000 each annually to the cooperative with licensing fees routed to Edwards's company approved by an internal board.
- A bound notebook seized from a locked cabinet recorded clearings by name, date, duration, and Edwards's clinical assessments.
- Howard Edwards confessed to financial fraud and isolation practices and received a fourteen year sentence eligible for parole review after nine.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1446falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/eleven-laminated-fishing-licenses-fanned-across-a-bunkhouse-floor--73181353
A utility lineman found eleven laminated commercial fishing licenses fanned on the floor of an empty bunkhouse at a coastal compound on November 14, 2011 - different names and photos but the same handwriting signing "Held in trust, Tidewater Collective" beneath each signature. How did a woman with no documented maritime record create an enclosed system that redirected mail, controlled permits, and turned labor into perpetual debt?

In this episode, we trace Duane Green and ten other men who joined the Tidewater Collective under Janet Whitley's "Cold Water Covenant" and follow the paperwork, redirected P.O. box, and debt formula that bound them, asking whether the arrangement was opportunism or a deliberately designed enclosure.

Person: Janet Whitley
Location: Pelican Spit, northern Oregon coast
Event: abandoned fishing compound found with licences
Date: November 14, 2011
Charge: labor trafficking; unlawful possession of identifying documents

- Duane Green joined the collective in late 2009 and assigned his commercial fishing license to the group's pooled custody under a four-page membership agreement.
- The Cannon Beach P.O. box that received all members' state correspondence was registered in 2003, six years before the first member arrived.
- Phil Dorsey logged an average of sixty-one work hours per week and left in spring 2011 citing a disagreement about debt accounting.
- Investigators found eleven commercial licenses in a locked metal box in Bunkhouse Three, each signed on the back in the license holder's own hand with the same inked notation beneath.
- Janet Whitley was convicted in 2013 of labor trafficking and related counts and sentenced to fourteen years after evidence showed the debt formula was calibrated to never resolve.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/73181353Sun, 26 Jul 2026 18:32:40 +0000Creator at ObomediaEleven laminated fishing licenses, fanned across a bunkhouse floor A utility lineman found eleven laminated commercial fishing licenses fanned on the floor of an empty bunkhouse at a coastal compound on November 14, 2011 - different names and...
A utility lineman found eleven laminated commercial fishing licenses fanned on the floor of an empty bunkhouse at a coastal compound on November 14, 2011 - different names and photos but the same handwriting signing "Held in trust, Tidewater Collective" beneath each signature. How did a woman with no documented maritime record create an enclosed system that redirected mail, controlled permits, and turned labor into perpetual debt?

In this episode, we trace Duane Green and ten other men who joined the Tidewater Collective under Janet Whitley's "Cold Water Covenant" and follow the paperwork, redirected P.O. box, and debt formula that bound them, asking whether the arrangement was opportunism or a deliberately designed enclosure.

Person: Janet Whitley
Location: Pelican Spit, northern Oregon coast
Event: abandoned fishing compound found with licences
Date: November 14, 2011
Charge: labor trafficking; unlawful possession of identifying documents

- Duane Green joined the collective in late 2009 and assigned his commercial fishing license to the group's pooled custody under a four-page membership agreement.
- The Cannon Beach P.O. box that received all members' state correspondence was registered in 2003, six years before the first member arrived.
- Phil Dorsey logged an average of sixty-one work hours per week and left in spring 2011 citing a disagreement about debt accounting.
- Investigators found eleven commercial licenses in a locked metal box in Bunkhouse Three, each signed on the back in the license holder's own hand with the same inked notation beneath.
- Janet Whitley was convicted in 2013 of labor trafficking and related counts and sentenced to fourteen years after evidence showed the debt formula was calibrated to never resolve.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1479falsefull