Crime To Burn

Episode 93
On December 30, 1903, Chicago gathered for a matinee performance at the Iroquois Theater—a venue that had opened just five weeks earlier and was widely promoted as one of the safest, most modern theaters in the country.
It was advertised as “absolutely fireproof.”
It was anything but.
In this episode of Crime to Burn, we examine the Iroquois Theater Fire, one of the deadliest single-building fires in U.S. history—and a catastrophe that unfolded in minutes inside a brand-new building that had never been tested by an emergency evacuation.
What began as a small stage fire rapidly escalated as design flaws, concealed exits, inadequate fire protection, and human panic collided. Patrons were funneled into dead ends, trapped behind locked or hidden doors, or forced toward fire escapes that had never been completed.
Mothers and children were separated. Entire families were lost. Outside the theater, rescue attempts turned deadly as ladders slipped and fire escapes collapsed. In the aftermath, even identifying the dead became a challenge—there was no accurate way to know how many people had attended the performance or who had successfully escaped.
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 
Sources: 
Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster, 1903Hatch, Anthony P. Tinder Box: The Iroquois Theatre Disaster, 1903. Chicago, IL: Academy Chicago Publishers, 2003.

Episode 92
In the conclusion of Samarcand, we turn away from the fire itself and examine what happened after sixteen teenage girls were arrested — and what the justice system did when it realized it had no good options left.
With Samarcand no longer able to house them, the state faced a question it wasn’t prepared to answer:What do you do with traumatized, rebellious, and violently angry teenage girls the system has already failed?
In this episode, we explore:
The debate over how — or whether — the girls should be tried
The real possibility of sending minors to adult penitentiaries
The fear of releasing them back into the public
And the consequences of incarcerating them in county jails unequipped to handle them
As the girls were moved through the system, tensions exploded. Jail riots broke out. Authorities lost control. And the public narrative hardened around fear rather than reform.
We examine how this case exposed a fundamental flaw in the justice system: it is built to punish or release — not to rehabilitate. Especially not when the defendants are young, angry, and shaped by institutional neglect.
Finally, we look at what the Samarcand case changed — and what it didn’t. How it influenced conversations around juvenile justice, where reform stalled, and why the same structural failures continue to repeat themselves today.
This is not a story about guilt or innocence alone.It’s about a system that had already run out of answers before it ever asked the right questions.
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 
Sources: 
Bennett, Barbara. Smoke Signals from Samarcand: The 1931 Reform School Fire and Its Aftermath.University of South Carolina Press, 2018.ISBN 978-1-61117-860-9 (cloth) • ISBN 978-1-61117-861-6 (ebook).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: http://catalog.loc.gov/Publisher website: https://www.sc.edu/uscpress/
Mentioned in Episode (not used as a research source):
Zipf, Karin L. Bad Girls at Samarcand: Sexuality and Sterilization in a Southern Juvenile Reformatory.University of North Carolina Press, April 4, 2016.ISBN 978-1-4696-2791-9 (hardcover).
Note: This book was referenced by title during the episode but was not used as a source or basis for research for this show.

Episode 91
Sixteen girls. Multiple fires. A system built to control them — and a desperate act that forced the nation to look closer.
In this episode, we step inside the walls of the Samarcand Reform School for Girls in North Carolina, where young women lived under harsh discipline, forced labor, and relentless institutional oversight. On the night they began setting fires, they weren’t just striking a match — they were striking back.
This is a story of defiance, injustice, and the blurred line between rebellion and survival. Were these girls arsonists — or victims fighting for autonomy the only way they could?
Listen as we follow the smoke through history and confront the uncomfortable truth about who society punishes, who it protects, and what incendiary acts are born from desperation.
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 
Sources: 
Bennett, Barbara. Smoke Signals from Samarcand: The 1931 Reform School Fire and Its Aftermath.University of South Carolina Press, 2018.ISBN 978-1-61117-860-9 (cloth) • ISBN 978-1-61117-861-6 (ebook).
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data: http://catalog.loc.gov/Publisher website: https://www.sc.edu/uscpress/
Mentioned in Episode (not used as a research source):
Zipf, Karin L. Bad Girls at Samarcand: Sexuality and Sterilization in a Southern Juvenile Reformatory.University of North Carolina Press, April 4, 2016.ISBN 978-1-4696-2791-9 (hardcover).
Note: This book was referenced by title during the episode but was not used as a source or basis for research for this show.

Episode 90
In the final installment of our deep dive into the deadly world of Sarah Hartsfield, we unravel the last threads of a case that spiraled from chaos to calculated cruelty. This episode pulls together the full picture of Sarah’s violent history, her pattern of manipulation, and the chilling timeline that led investigators—and ultimately a jury—to label her actions for what they were.
We break down the pivotal moments from Sarah's past that shifted the direction of the trial. From the ignored medical alarms to her past partners’ harrowing accounts, we follow every red flag Sarah left fluttering in her wake. And we return to the question that kicked this series off: Did the jury get it right, was Joe Hartsfield's death murder?
Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 
Sources: For a full list of sources, please see the show notes for Episode 88 (part 1 of this series)

Episode 89
In Part 2 of our deep dive into the life and crimes of Sarah Hartsfield, we follow the tangled threads back to the beginning. Because before the alleged poisoning, before the string of dead or endangered husbands, before the Dateline episode…there was a childhood already splintered by chaos.
This week, we explore:
Sarah’s early life — the patterns that began long before her first “I do.”
Marriage #1: A relationship marked by volatility, control, and infidelity
Her marriage to Chris — the escalating behaviors, the violence, and the fear her family lives with
Her brother’s house fire — a nearly fatal fire that was never ruled arson, but relatives think Sarah may be responsible
How Sarah’s ability to reinvent herself, charm authority, and flip narratives became the defining machinery of her survival.
Part 2 is the setup for where this case truly becomes unbelievable — but as you’ll hear, the warning signs were there all along.
Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 
Sources: For a full list of sources, please see the show notes for Episode 88 (part 1 of this series)

Episode 88
Sarah Hartsfield didn’t weave a web of silk — she wove a web of control.A web of manipulation.A web she masked with charisma and charm until it finally snapped under its own weight.
In October 2025, a jury convicted Sarah Hartsfield of murdering her husband, Joseph Hartsfield, after deliberating for just one hour. One hour — despite the fact that the physical evidence was thin, the investigation delayed, and the medical questions complex. But what wasn’t thin was the pattern that emerged the moment investigators stepped back and looked at Sarah’s life in full.
In this episode, we strip away the decades of allegations — the shootings, the fires, the chaos — and start exactly where the jury started: with Joe’s death.With the 911 call.With the deleted searches.With the late-night texts from a man who should have been unconscious.With the video Sarah recorded of her husband gasping for breath.
Then we will explore what prosecutors revealed once the pattern of Sarah’s past began to surface — a shocking trail of manipulation, alleged violence, suspicious fires, and the relentless pursuit of control that followed Sarah from childhood to court.
This is not just the story of one death.It’s the story of a woman who built an entire life on domination — a Black Widow who spun a web so tangled that, in the end, she became trapped in it herself.
Welcome to “Burn, Marry, Kill: The Wicked Web of Sarah Hartsfield.”A story of murder, manipulation, and the flames she allegedly used to keep control.
Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 
Sources: 
Tim Stelloh, Kelley Moody, Mario J. Garcia, Vince Sturla.After woman was charged in her husband’s murder, authorities take a fresh look at other deaths close to her.NBC News. April 28, 2023.https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sarah-hartsfield-alleged-murder-husband-david-bragg-dateline-rcna81260
KPRC 2 Click2Houston (YouTube).Sarah Hartsfield Trial: Bombshell phone records from Sarah show contradicting story.Posted October 8, 2025.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHDVdNpTuZI
Bryce Newberry, Bill Carruthers, Wlad Moquete, Adrian Montes, Adrian Crooks, Matt James, Ana Lastra.The Two Sides of Sarah: Chambers County woman accused of murdering husband Joseph Hartsfield.Click2Houston. Published May 18, 2023; updated February 23, 2024.https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2023/05/18/the-two-sides-of-sarah-chambers-county-woman-accused-of-murdering-husband-joseph-hartsfield/
KPRC 2 Click2Houston (YouTube).New Evidence in Sarah Hartsfield Trial | Toxicology shows insulin, possible prescriptions.Posted October 1, 2025.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzyHJHmWBsA
KPRC 2 Click2Houston (YouTube).Lead detective details phone data, deleted messages in Sarah Hartsfield’s insulin murder trial.Posted October 7, 2025.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKAB5PAo4kU
FOX 26 Houston (YouTube).Sarah Hartsfield murder trial: Full closing arguments.Posted October 8, 2025.https://youtu.be/Fyj1bQbRz1E?si=wJ2ZnARKgtXFkKng
Dateline NBC. Along Came Sarah. Season 31, Episode 30. Aired April 28, 2023.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27417687/

Episode 87
Hidden beneath the hills of northeast New Mexico lies a ghost that industry left behind. Dawson was once a model mining town — a company-built community boasting schools, golf courses, and an opera house. Phelps Dodge called it progress. But twice, in just ten years, that progress went up in smoke.
In 1913 and again in 1923, massive explosions ripped through Dawson’s coal mines, killing 383 miners — fathers, sons, and brothers — in two of the deadliest mining disasters in American history.
This episode digs deep into how “safety-forward” operations, good intentions, and one impatient decision turned an idealized town into a field of iron crosses. We’ll explore coal dust explosions, early fire protection efforts underground, and how greed, apathy, and bad timing turned progress into tragedy.
Because when profit becomes the accelerant… all it takes is a spark.
Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 
Sources: 
Pappas, Nick. Crosses of Iron: The Tragic Story of Dawson, New Mexico, and Its Twin Mining Disasters. Foreword by Richard Melzer. University of New Mexico Press, 2023. ISBN 978-0-8263-6528-6 (paper), 978-0-8263-6529-3 (electronic).Library of Congress Control Number: 2023940430. https://a.co/d/8sTa5em
Sharpe, Tom. “Remembering the Dawson Mining Disaster, 100 Years Later.” The Santa Fe New Mexican, October 19, 2013.https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/remembering-the-dawson-mining-disaster-100-years-later/article_446074ce-ea6b-54cf-a818-992408f6a398.html
Villa, Elizabeth. “Dawson, NM: Booming Mine Town Turned Ghost Town.” New Mexico State University Archives Blog, posted May 3, 2022.https://nmsu.libguides.com/blogs/asc/openstacks/posts/Dawson-NM-Booming-mine-town-turned-ghost-town
Hawker Vanguard. “Eerie Enchantment: Dawson, New Mexico.” KOB4 News, published November 1, 2024.https://www.kob.com/new-mexico/eerie-enchantment-dawson-history/

Episode 86
In the early hours of November 1st, 1970, celebration turned to catastrophe when a fire tore through the Club Cinq-Sept near Saint-Laurent-du-Pont, France. Within minutes, 146 young people were dead — trapped behind padlocked exits, a full-height turnstile, and flammable décor that turned the dance floor into a death trap.
This wasn’t just a fire — it was the inevitable result of greed, negligence, and a system that valued profit over safety. In this episode, April breaks down how the building’s design doomed its occupants, why its owners never should’ve been allowed to open, and how French philosopher Guy Debord later used the tragedy to expose the rot beneath a complacent society.
Because not every fire should keep burning — and some should have never started at all.
Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 
Sources: 
The Raven’s Eye. France’s Worst Discotheque Fire – The Horror of the Club 5-7 Disaster. YouTube, Sept 12 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ_C77jqfW4&t=9s
Manic Manor Podcast. The Club Cinq-Sept Fire. YouTube, Mar 19 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lnQIkFvw7s
Time Magazine. France: An Unusual Silence. Nov 16 1970. https://time.com/archive/6838296/france-an-unusual-silence/
Guy Debord. On the Fire of Saint-Laurent-du-Pont (1971). Translated from French; introduction by René Viénet.
BBC News. 1970: Nightclub Inferno ‘Wipes Out a Generation’. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/november/1/newsid_2537000/2537937.stm
Associated Press. 142 Are Killed by Fire in Locked Dance Hall in France. The New York Times, Nov 2 1970. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/11/02/archives/142-are-killed-by-fire-in-locked-dance-hall-in-france-20-survive.html

Episode 85
Each October, the city of Detroit braced for three nights of chaos known as Devil’s Night—a grim tradition of arson and destruction that peaked in the 1980s with hundreds of fires set across the city. But behind the headlines and the flames lies a story of resilience, strategy, and a community that refused to burn.
In this episode, we take you inside the rise and fall of Devil’s Night—how economic collapse, political scandal, and desperation turned mischief into mayhem, and how Detroit’s residents, firefighters, and city leaders fought back through the “Angels’ Night” campaign.
We’ll trace the legacy of those fire-filled nights and ask: what happens when a city becomes known not for its industry, but for its inferno?
Listen to You Should Be Here on your favorite podcast app including Apple Podcasts and Spotify. The new season, Cases that Haunt us is out now!
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Inner Sanctum Acknowledgments:Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Jenny Mercer and Laura Pisciotta, for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.
Listener discretion is advised.
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet. 
Sources: 
Maciak, Barbara, PhD, MPH, et al. (1999). Preventing Halloween Arson in Urban Settings: A Model for Multisectoral Planning and Community Participation. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice. JSTOR link
Zaharan, Sammy, et al. (2019). Hidden Costs of Blight and Arson in Detroit: Evidence From a Natural Experiment in Devil’s Night. Ecological Economics, Volume 158, pp. 266–277. ScienceDirect link
Anonymous (2021, October 31). The Devil’s Night: On the Ungovernable Spirit of Halloween. Ill Will Editions. illwill.com/devils-night
Chafets, Ze’ev. (1990). Devil’s Night and Other True Tales of Detroit. Random House.
LeDuff, Charlie. (2013). Detroit: An American Autopsy. Penguin Books.

Episode 84:
In this week’s bonus episode of Crime to Burn, April sits down with author Arnie Bernstein to discuss the 1927 Bath School disaster, the investigation that followed, and what it takes to responsibly tell true stories of mass violence nearly a century later.Together, they explore how the bombing changed one American town — and why its echoes still shape today’s conversations about justice, memory, and the human cost of tragedy.
Arnie Bernstein’s Website: arniebernstein.comArnie’s Substack – The Typewriter’s Collage: arniebernstein.substack.comBuy the Book: Bath Massacre: America’s First School Bombing
Background music by Not Notoriously Coordinated 
The Crime to Burn Patreon - The Cult of Steve - is LIVE NOW! Go join and get all the unhinged you can handle. Click here to be sanctified. 
Get your Crime to Burn Merch! https://crimetoburn.myspreadshop.com
Please follow us on Instagram, X, Facebook, TikTok and Youtube for the latest news on this case. You can email us at crimetoburn@gmail.com We welcome any constructive feedback and would greatly appreciate a 5 star rating and review. 
If you need a way to keep your canine contained, you can also support the show by purchasing a Pawious wireless dog fence using our affiliate link and use the code "crimetoburn" at checkout to receive 10% off. Pawious, because our dog Winston needed a radius, not a rap sheet.