Forgotten Felonies

Send a message to Monica and Olivia! Scott Jackson’s trial finally begins in Newport, Kentucky, and after four episodes of rumors, "confessions," strange witnesses, missing evidence, and absolutely bizarre behavior, the Commonwealth finally has to put all of it together in front of a jury. Pearl’s family takes the stand. Letters are read in court. Testimony swirls about blood coagulation, cocaine, and whether or not Pearl had been alive when she reached Kentucky. Little does the prosecution k...

Send a message to Monica and Olivia! Psychics. Séances. Strange packages. Secret transmitters hidden inside jail cells. As the investigation into Pearl Bryan’s murder moves into March of 1896, Cincinnati seems to have completely lost its mind. While mystics and dreamers offer their own solutions to the mystery, investigators uncover new witnesses, physical evidence, and a big problem with Scott Jackson’s latest confession. At the same time, Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling have become tourist...

Send a message to Monica and Olivia! By the end of February 1896, the murder of Pearl Bryan had become more than an investigation. It had become a true spectacle. Detectives were chasing new leads. Reporters were printing every rumor they could find. Songs were being written, crowds were paying to watch reenactments of the crime, and seemingly everyone connected to Pearl Bryan had something to say. Some witnesses offered details that could change the entire case. Others told stories that beca...

Send a message to Monica and Olivia! After Pearl Bryan's identity is finally discovered, investigators begin the difficult task of answering an even larger question: What happened during her final days in Cincinnati? Following newspaper accounts, trial testimony, and contemporary records, we retrace Pearl's last known movements—from train depots and hotels to piano stores, saloons, and a visit to a mysterious trance medium. Along the way, witnesses begin to emerge, conflicting stories multipl...

Send a message to Monica and Olivia! In January 1896, 23-year-old Pearl Bryan boarded a train bound for Indianapolis... and never came home. When her body was discovered in northern Kentucky a few days later, investigators didn't even know who the victim was. But once they uncovered her identity, the trail led them to two young dental students and one of the most sensational murder investigations of the nineteenth century. In Part 1, we follow the investigation from its shocking beginning thr...