Show Notes
This is a story about a woman who came to be known as The Horse Queen. She owned hundreds of champion quarter horses on her ranch outside the small city of Dixon, Illinois. And she was also Dixon’s treasurer/comptroller. Yet no one ever thought to ask how she could afford all of those horses on the salary of a civil servant… until the FBI raided City Hall in 2012 and Rita was arrested. For twenty years, Rita Crundwell worked hard to become the world’s largest and most successful quarter horse breeder… while also becoming America’s most prolific municipal embezzler.
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More from Crooked City: Dixon, IL
From The Binge, Crime Scene plunges you into stories you can’t stop thinking about—revisiting cases that deserve a second look.
Years after Rita’s arrest, the people of Dixon gather in the town’s historic movie theater to watch a documentary about Rita’s crime. Then they hear that Rita may be coming home early.
Dixon wants its money back… so they sue the accounting firm that did the city’s annual audits. Mayor Burke decides not to run for a fifth term.
On her ranch in Dixon, US Marshals auction off hundreds of Rita’s horses. Leonard and Leigh Berryhill want to buy Good I Will Be.
Rita Crundwell’s 30-year crime spree comes to an end and Dixon finds out just how much she stole. As the city blames its beloved mayor, Jim Burke struggles to pick up the pieces.