Hell and Gone

Sometime between the evening of September 2 in the early morning hours of September 3, 1994, 35-year-old Billie Jean Phillips was brutally beaten to death at her home in Alabam, Arkansas. The case soon became the biggest story in Madison County, and there was a long list of potential suspects.  But in 2002, there was an arrest in the Billie Jean Phillips murder case. One that would shock the community. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Saturday September 3, 1994, a federal poultry inspector named Chic Philips was taking his seven-year-old son MacKenzie back to the home of his mother and Chic’s ex-wife, 35-year-old Billie Jean Philips.  When they arrived, Billie Jean’s son ran inside the house and walked back to the bedroom he saw his mom lying on the floor a few feet from the bed with her head kind of propped up against a wall. She wasn’t moving. So the little boy ran outside to the car and told his dad, “Mommy fell painting”.   Chic put his son back in his truck and walked in to see what he was talking about and that’s when he found his former wife’s body and realized his son thought the blood spattered all over her bedroom were paint.  Of course, the house became a crime scene, and it wasn’t long before the whole town heard what happened. Billie Jean had been brutally murdered.  There was a long list of suspects including a sheriff living a double life, the prosecutor and his son who were sleeping with the victim, and a tale of conspiracy theories, arson, meth, and murder in Arkansas. So what really happened to Billie Jean Phillips?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this season of Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows, we travel back to a pivotal moment in the history of this country, and we trace how, decades before Covid-19, a virus tore through some of our most vulnerable communities while the wider world looked away. We go to a pediatric ward in Harlem, a women’s prison in upstate New York, a drug market in the South Bronx, and the inner sanctum of the National Institutes of Health. And we meet people who demanded that they, and their illness, be seen: mothers and children, doctors and nurses, nuns and sex workers, and a woman who literally helped change the definition of AIDS. The first episode comes out on Jan. 18. Blindspot is a co-production of The HISTORY® Channel and WNYC Studios, in collaboration with The Nation Magazine. Cover photo by Donna Binder.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elderly couple David and Mina Swan lived in a quiet neighborhood in Clearwater, Florida. But on Saturday September 29, 2018, a neighbor of theirs was concerned when their newspapers started piling up outside. The neighbor called Mina’s daughter, and the pair of them went inside the house. What they found was horrific. David and Mina were at the kitchen table slumped over in pools of blood. The police have admitted that they are stumped, and over three years later the case is still unsolved. Who would have killed David and Mina Swan?  If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Arkansas, some people think that a slew of child deaths in the early 1990s are related. Those children are Christina Pipkin, who went missing in May of 1991, Steve Branch, Michael Moore, Christopher Byers, the three eight-year-old boys who were murdered in West Memphis in 1993, and also includes 16-year-old Gardenia Cross Jones and 13-year-old Geneva Smith, whose bodies were both found near Wynne, Arkansas just a few miles from Hickory Ridge shortly after they went missing. After Catherine’s investigation into these deaths for a few months, there haven't been any obvious connections among the children in east Arkansas. But there are a lot of weird coincidences in these cases. In three of the four cases, suspects were arrested and ultimately released. All of them were found in or near bodies of water. And all of them are unsolved.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On December 28 2017, 19-year-old Natalie Bollinger was at home in her apartment in Broomfield, Colorado. But when her boyfriend Joey got home from work that afternoon, Natalie was gone. So was his 9mm Glock. Joey tried to call Natalie but noticed that her cellphone was still at home. So he called the police and reported Natalie missing.     The next day, December 29, police got a tip that a body had been found on land belonging to the McIntosh Dairy farm in a wooded area north of Denver, Colorado. They confirmed it was Natalie Bollinger. And the killer was someone no one expected.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In May 1991, nine-year-old Christina Pipkin headed out to sell jewelry for her school fundraiser. But she never made it back home. Her body was found in a ditch several days later. Who, or what, killed Christina Pipkin? Catherine Townsend tracks down other witnesses who saw Christina the night she disappeared and identifies inconsistencies in the case file.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In May 1991, nine-year-old Christina Pipkin headed out to sell jewelry for her school fundraiser. But she never made it back home. Her body was found in a ditch several days later. Who, or what, killed Christina Pipkin? Catherine Townsend continues her investigation in Arkansas.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In May 1991, nine-year-old Christina Pipkin headed out to sell costume jewelry for her school fundraiser. Her father gave her strict instructions: Stay on your side of the railroad tracks, and be home by dark. But Christina didn’t make it back home before dark. And she never made it home alive. Her body was found in a ditch several days later. Who, or what, killed Christina Pipkin? And could her death be connected to other dead children found in East Arkansas?   If you have a case you’d like Catherine Townsend to look into, you can reach out to the Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, Hell and Gone listeners! Catherine is headed back to Arkansas this week to investigate a slew of child deaths that have never been solved. We'll be back next week with a full episode of Hell and Gone Murder Line.  If you have a case you’d like Catherine to look into, you can reach out to us at our Hell and Gone Murder Line at 678-744-6145.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.