234: Back to Our Roots

This episode should feel like an old, familiar tune. Kristin starts us off with an old timey love triangle and Brandi covers a family annihilator…?  Robert Miller was a celebrated criminal defense attorney in Washington DC. He was buddies with Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt. He’d been the law partner of vice president Charles Curtis. He even had a nickname! It was: Judge, not guilty. He was pretty content. But his much younger wife, Marguerite, was not. Soon, she and her psychiatrist, Dr. John Lind began having an affair. It didn’t take Robert long to decide that he needed to get even.  Then Brandi tells us about David Hendricks, who was out of town on a business trip when his wife, Susan, and their three children, Rebekah, Grace and Benjamin were found dead in their home. David quickly emerged as the prime suspect. (Isn’t it always the father?) But there wasn’t much evidence tying him to the crime. The DA’s office moved forward, undeterred. And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases. In this episode, Kristin pulled from: “Deadly love triangle,” by Mara Bovsun for the New York Daily News “Woman testifies husband killed in self defense,” Associated Press, May 24, 1944 “Miller acquitted in killing after hearing wife assailed,” by Jack Doherty for the Daily News, June 1, 1944 “Lawyer’s erring wife says Lind extorted $5,000,” The Chicago Tribune, May 24, 1944 “Wife supports husband who killed rival,” Associated Press, May 24, 1944 “Slain doctor altered will for killer’s wife,” by George Dixon for the Daily News, February 29, 1944 “Prosecution calls 50 for Miller trial opening Monday,” The Evening Star, May 12, 1944 “Miller jury due to be completed by noon today,” The Evening Star, May 16, 1944 “A kiss but not a happy ending,” the Daily News, February 23, 1944 “Charges capital slayer planted gun,” by George Dixon for the Daily News, February 23, 1944 “Crime: One of the best,” Time Magazine, March 6, 1944 “Miller carried 2 guns before Lind slaying, prosecution charges,” by Norman A. Kahl for the Evening Star, May 16, 1944 “Miller denies he intended to kill Dr. Lind,” by Norman A. Kahl for the Evening Star, May 26, 1944 “Aged lawyer acquitted in murder case,” The Morning Herald, June 1, 1944 “The story of murder on Valentine’s 1944 in front of Woodies department store,” The House History Man In this episode, Brandi pulled from: “Guilty or Innocent: The Hendricks Family Murders” by Gina Glaub, The Midwest Crime Files “1983 Bloomington quadruple-homicide remains unsolved” by Samira Kassem, The Argus “Reasonable Doubt: The Hendricks Family Murders by Fiona Guy, crimetraveller.org “David Hendricks” wikipedia.org “Questions and Answers” authorhendricks.com “People v. Hendricks” justia.com YOU’RE STILL READING? My, my, my, you skeezy scunch! You must be hungry for more! We’d offer you some sausage brunch, but that gets messy. So how about you head over to our Patreon instead? (patreon.com/lgtcpodcast). At the $5 level, you’ll get 35+ full length bonus episodes, plus access to our 90’s style chat room!