Show Notes
Carl Gugasian is known as "The Friday Night Bank Robber" and is widely considered the most prolific bank robber in U.S. history. Over a 30-year criminal career, he meticulously planned and executed more than 50 bank robberies, stealing more than $2 million.
More from Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast
The Alex Malarkey story centers on a high-profile evangelical hoax surrounding the 2010 bestselling memoir, The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven. Following a 2004 car accident that left Alex permanently paralyzed, his father, Kevin Malarkey, concocted a narrative that his son had visited heaven, met Jesus, and seen angels while in a two-month coma.
Laren Sims utilized at least 38 aliases to execute various fraud and grand theft schemes. She met and married wealthy personal injury attorney Larry McNabney, later embezzling money from his firm. In 2001, Sims and her friend, law firm secretary Sarah Dutra, fatally poisoned McNabney with a lethal dose of horse tranquilizer
In 2007, 19-year-old former college tennis player Heather Johnston gained international notoriety alongside her roommate, Ashley Miller, when they were dubbed the "Barbie Bandits" after being caught on surveillance footage laughing in sunglasses during a $11,000 heist at a Bank of America branch inside an Acworth, Georgia grocery store.
Sharee Miller was convicted of second-degree murder and conspiracy in 2000 for orchestrating what became known as the internet’s first highly publicized murder trial. Living in Michigan with her husband, Bruce Miller, Sharee engaged in an intense online affair with a former Missouri police officer, Jerry Cassaday.
Dieter Dengler was a German-born U.S. Navy pilot who became one of the few American servicemen to successfully escape enemy captivity during the Vietnam War. After fulfilling his childhood dream of flying by immigrating to the United States and joining the Navy, Dengler's A-1 Skyraider was shot down over Laos in February 1966.