The Ponzi Killer Mom

THE DEVIL'S LEDGER

Week of September 28, 2026

Fall has officially arrived, playoff baseball is back, and apparently Mother Nature decided the Northeast needed to celebrate with a violent nor'easter.

This week on The Devil's Ledger, Branden sends some love to everyone currently getting battered by wind, rain and coastal flooding—and finally answers a question some of us have somehow avoided asking our entire lives: What the hell actually is a nor'easter?

Then we head into considerably darker territory.

THE CREEPIEST THING I HEARD THIS WEEK: THE MOSQUITO

Brazilian authorities say they've captured Jorlan Lopes da Silva, a suspected serial killer nicknamed “Mosquito” because of his thin, frail build.

Police accuse da Silva of involvement in sixteen murders around Mulungu in northeastern Brazil. Investigators say he evaded capture by disappearing into dense vegetation and living in makeshift camps hidden in the wilderness. But it's the bizarre circumstances of his arrest that elevate this one into Creepiest Thing territory: when police finally cornered him after a two-day pursuit, da Silva was reportedly wearing a dress, wig and painted fingernails—and carrying an unrelated baby in his arms.

THIS WEEK ON THE DEVIL WITHIN: GUSTAVE

The New Monsters has come to an end, which means we're returning to something considerably more familiar:

Serial killers.

Sort of.

Our new three-part series travels to Burundi and the shores of Lake Tanganyika for the extraordinary story of Gustave, the enormous, heavily scarred Nile crocodile blamed in legend for more than 300 human deaths.

That number has never been verified—and naturalist Patrice Faye offered far more conservative estimates—but behind the mythology was a very real, exceptionally large crocodile that Faye spent years tracking.

How do you hunt a serial killer with no motive, fingerprints or confession—one who can simply disappear beneath the surface of one of Africa's great lakes?

Meet Gustave: The Killer of Lake Tanganyika.

CRIMINAL MISCHIEF: TOMASZ KOSOWSKI

Over on Criminal Mischief, Carolyn investigates the extraordinary case of plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski, recently found guilty of murdering attorney Steven Cozzi.

Cozzi vanished from his Largo, Florida, law office in March 2023. His wallet, phone and keys were left behind, while investigators discovered blood inside the men's restroom. His body has never been recovered.

Then Kosowski made the already extraordinary case even stranger: facing first-degree murder and the possibility of a death sentence, he represented himself.

Carolyn breaks down the evidence, the disappearance and one of the stranger murder trials we've encountered in quite some time.

THE SLIPPERY: THE PONZI KILLER MOM

Scott and Nancy bring us the rise and spectacular collapse of Natalie Cochran.

Natalie and Michael Cochran appeared to have everything: high-school sweethearts turned successful suburban family, with Natalie working as a pharmacist and Michael as a popular baseball coach and businessman.

Behind that success was a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme involving supposedly lucrative government and defense contracts. As the money poured in, so did the lies—and when Michael began asking questions, prosecutors said Natalie chose murder over exposure.

A jury ultimately convicted her of killing her husband with insulin.

Money. Marriage. Fraud. Defense contracts. Murder.

This week, The Slippery takes on The Ponzi Killer Mom.

THIS WEEK IN HORROR: VICTORIAN PSYCHO

Finally, we're going Gothic.

Maika Monroe stars as Winifred Notty, an eccentric young governess who arrives at a remote English manor in 1858 to educate the children of a wealthy family.

Then people begin disappearing.

Also starring Jason Isaacs, Thomasin McKenzie and Ruth Wilson, Victorian Psycho gives us a remote manor, Victorian repression, disappearing servants and a governess who may have considerably more on her mind than afternoon lessons.

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Fall is here. The sweaters are coming out. The leaves are changing. Playoff baseball has arrived.

Nature is healing.

We'll see you this week across the Evio Universe.

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