Crime To Burn

48:20

Bizarre Blazes: Arson's Strangest Stories

Crime To Burn ·

2026/10/05

Episode 131Sometimes arson investigations are tragic, complicated, and painstakingly difficult. And sometimes a suspect confesses to a television reporter while the house is still burning behind him. This week, we take a break from the heavier cases to explore three of the most bizarre stories of criminal combustion they could find: a Maryland house fire with an unusually cooperative suspect, a Christmas Eve Walmart fire involving shoplifting, a lighter, and an astonishing escalation of criminal

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52:41

Fire in the French Quarter: The Up Stairs Lounge -...

Crime To Burn ·

2026/09/28

Episode 130In the finale of Fire in the French Quarter: The Upstairs Lounge, we follow the State Fire Marshal’s investigation to its end—and confront the question it could never answer with certainty: did Roger Nunez set the fire that killed 32 people? We examine the evidence investigators believed pointed to Roger, the troubling inconsistencies that kept the case from ever being resolved, and alleged confessions that surfaced both before and decades after his death. We also tell the story

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46:40

Fire in the French Quarter: The Up Stairs Lounge -...

Crime To Burn ·

2026/09/21

Episode 129 In Part Four of Fire in the French Quarter: The Upstairs Lounge, we follow the State Fire Marshal’s investigation as investigators finally locate and question their prime suspect, Roger Nunez. We examine the evidence against Roger, the questionable voice-stress testing used during the investigation, and the alleged confessions that surfaced only after his death. But with no physical evidence tying Roger to the fire—and serious questions surrounding those confessions—did investigators

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50:45

Fire in the French Quarter: The Up Stairs Lounge -...

Crime To Burn ·

2026/09/14

Episode 128In Part 3 of Fire in the French Quarter: The Upstairs Lounge, we turn our attention to the investigation—and to the stark differences between the work of the New Orleans Police Department and the Louisiana Fire Marshal’s Office. We dig into the physical evidence recovered after the fire, including the Ronsonol lighter-fluid can, laboratory testing of the stairwell carpet, and a surprisingly fascinating series of flammability tests. Then we follow investigators as their attention turns

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50:18

Fire in the French Quarter: The Up Stairs Lounge -...

Crime To Burn ·

2026/09/07

Episode 127In Part Two of Fire in the French Quarter: The Upstairs Lounge, we look at what happened after the flames were extinguished. Survivors faced the threat of being outed, victims and their families were met with cruelty and rejection, and investigators began trying to determine whether the fire had been deliberately set. As police chased conflicting leads, strange confessions, and a can of lighter fluid found near the bottom of the stairs, a clerk at a nearby Walgreens gave them their first

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53:25

Fire in the French. Quarter: The Up Stairs Lounge

Crime To Burn ·

2026/08/31

Episode 126On June 24, 1973, a fire tore through the Up Stairs Lounge, a second-floor bar in New Orleans’s French Quarter that had become a place of community and acceptance for the city’s gay population. Thirty-two people died in what remains the deadliest fire in New Orleans history. In Part One of Fire in the French Quarter — The Up Stairs Lounge, we go back to New Orleans in 1973 to explore the people and the place before following the events of that Sunday evening as a fire in the lounge’s

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58:10

Inside the Whiskey Au Go Go Case with Author Geoff...

Crime To Burn ·

2026/08/24

Episode 125After eight episodes unraveling the Whiskey Au Go Go fire, we're joined by Australian author and historian Geoff Plunkett, whose decades of research have helped uncover the complicated—and often contradictory—story behind one of Australia's deadliest fires. Geoff takes us behind the investigation, the people at the center of the case, and the evidence that has fueled questions about what really happened at the Whiskey Au Go Go nightclub on March 8, 1973. We talk about the challenges of

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52:43

Pulpit and the Pyre: The Murder of Dawn Hacheney -...

Crime To Burn ·

2026/08/17

Episode 124In the finale of Pulpit and the Pyre: The Murder of Dawn Hacheney, the carefully constructed world around Pastor Nick Hacheney finally begins to collapse. For years, Nick maintained control through secrecy, manipulation, spiritual authority, and a web of relationships with women who each knew only pieces of the truth. But when those women began comparing notes—and finding support outside the closed system of the church—the stories Nick had told them started falling apart. Eventually,

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46:01

Pulpit and the Pyre: The Murder of Dawn Hacheney -...

Crime To Burn ·

2026/08/10

Episode 123 When Dawn Hacheney’s death was ruled an accident, investigators had little reason to look beyond the fire. But outside the official investigation, troubling questions were already circulating about Pastor Nick Hacheney, the women he counseled, and the increasingly blurred boundaries inside Christ Community Church. In Part 2 of Pulpit and the Pyre, we examine the church culture that gave spiritual leaders extraordinary influence over their congregation, Sandy Glass’s prophetic visions,

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41:17

Pulpit and the Pyre: The Murder of Dawn Hacheney

Crime To Burn ·

2026/08/03

Episode 122Pulpit and the Pyre: The Murder of Dawn Hacheney – Part 1 When a house fire claims the life of Dawn Hacheney the day after Christmas 1997, investigators initially conclude it was a tragic accident. A bedroom filled with Christmas gifts, portable propane cylinders, a space heater, and an elevated level of Benadryl appear to support a devastating—but explainable—chain of events. But as a fire protection engineer, April isn't content to stop at the official explanation. In Part One of this

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44:57

Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire - The Finale

Crime To Burn ·

2026/07/27

Episode 121 After eight episodes, Foretold: Australia’s Whiskey Au Go Go Fire comes to its dramatic conclusion. In this finale, we examine the extraordinary events that unfolded after James Finch's release from prison, including his televised confession, his immediate recantation, and the allegations that reignited questions about police corruption, fabricated confessions, and perjury. We also explore the competing theories that have surrounded the Whiskey Au Go Go fire for more than fifty

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42:48

Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire - Part 7

Crime To Burn ·

2026/07/20

Episode 120Were the right men convicted? In Part 7 of Foretold: Australia’s Whiskey Au Go Go Fire, we examine the decades of controversy that followed the convictions of John Andrew Stuart and James Finch. As allegations of police corruption, questionable confessions, and organized crime connections emerge, the case becomes far more complicated than it first appeared. From the landmark Fitzgerald Inquiry to the shocking McCulkin family murders, we explore why many began to question not only whether

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43:43

Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire - Part 6

Crime To Burn ·

2026/07/13

Episode 119 John Stuart and James Finch finally stand trial for the Whiskey Au Go Go firebombing—but this is no ordinary murder trial. As prosecutors build their case around disputed confessions, jailhouse informants, and weeks of alleged extortion threats, Stuart repeatedly sabotages the proceedings by swallowing homemade spring-loaded wire devices that send him into emergency surgery. Eventually barred from attending his own trial, Stuart dismisses his lawyer, forcing the court into the

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46:46

Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire - Part 5

Crime To Burn ·

2026/07/06

Episode 118 In Part 5 of our Whiskey Au Go Go series, the investigation takes a dramatic turn when John Stuart's own brother, Danny, decides to turn him in to police. Was it an attack of conscience, or was Australia's largest-ever reward too tempting to ignore? As detectives close in, a backyard barbecue descends into absolute chaos, a mysterious Englishman named "Doug" repeatedly vanishes as police take John Stuart into custody. Then they catch his closest friend, James Richard Finch. Police say

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52:02

Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire - Part 4

Crime To Burn ·

2026/06/29

Episode 117 As the weeks leading up to the Whiskey Au Go Go fire unfold, John Stuart desperately tries to convince police, journalists, and nightclub owners that a deadly protection racket is about to erupt in Brisbane. But with his stories constantly changing, his refusal to name names, and increasingly erratic behavior, detectives are left wondering whether they're dealing with a genuine informant or a deeply paranoid career criminal. When Stuart's prediction of an empty nightclub fire comes true,

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43:31

Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire - Part 3

Crime To Burn ·

2026/06/22

Episode 116John Stuart spent years insisting he had been framed. Most people dismissed the claim as just another excuse from a career criminal with a long history of arrests, escapes, and bad decisions. But the attempted murder conviction that haunted Stuart's life may not have been as straightforward as it appeared. In Part 3 of our Whiskey Au Go Go series, we examine the 1965 shooting of Sydney underworld figure Jacky Steele, the conviction that transformed Stuart into a deeply paranoid man, and

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46:21

Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire - Part 2

Crime To Burn ·

2026/06/15

Episode 115 In Part 2 of our Whiskey Au Go Go series, we leave the nightclub behind and turn our attention to the man who would become the central figure in the investigation: John Andrew Joshua Stuart. Long before the Whiskey Au Go Go fire claimed 15 lives, Stuart was already well known to police, journalists, and much of Brisbane's criminal underworld. Raised in a home marked by violence, poverty, and abuse, Stuart's life became a revolving door of arrests, reform schools, mental institutions,

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30:32

Foretold: Australia's Whiskey Au Go Go Fire

Crime To Burn ·

2026/06/08

Episode 114In March 1973, a firebomb ripped through Brisbane's Whisky Au Go Go nightclub, killing 15 people and injuring many more in one of Australia's deadliest nightclub fires. But according to one man, the tragedy wasn't a surprise. Months before the fire, career criminal John Stuart had been warning police, reporters, and nightclub owners that organized crime was planning a series of nightclub firebombings. First an empty club. Then a crowded one. Most dismissed the warnings as the paranoid

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52:02

River of Ruin - The Cuyahoga River Fires

Crime To Burn ·

2026/06/01

Episode 113For decades, the people of Cleveland watched their river catch fire—and barely seemed to care. In this special two-year anniversary episode of Crime to Burn, we dive into the astonishing history of the Cuyahoga River. Long before the Environmental Protection Agency existed, the Cuyahoga River became a dumping ground for oil, industrial waste, sewage, and chemical runoff. The result? A river that burned not once, but at least thirteen documented times. But the burning river is only half

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41:02

Shockwaves: The 1947 Texas City Explosion - The Finale

Crime To Burn ·

2026/05/18

Episode 112In the finale of Shockwaves: The 1947 Texas City Explosion, we examine the aftermath of one of the deadliest industrial disasters in American history—and the devastating questions that followed. Why didn’t the firefighters, longshoremen, and citizens of Texas City understand the danger they were facing? Who did understand the risks of ammonium nitrate? And how did knowledge of those dangers fail to reach the people whose lives depended on it? In this episode, we trace the history of

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