On today’s episode of True Crime Time For, Woody opens by thanking the Lifers for listening and sharing and reminds everyone that tips can still be called into 313-RLRC-TIP on any case he has worked. He explains that when a specific tip comes in on an active investigation he cannot personally act on, he forwards it to the people currently working the case—and every credible lead has to be run down. Meanwhile, families and investigators continue waiting for answers and justice.
Larry Ralston and the Disappearance of Linda Kay Harmon
For On This Day in Crime, Woody goes back to September 3, 1975, when 17-year-old Linda Kay Harmon disappeared in Ohio while on her way to school.
Harmon failed to meet a friend and later missed a dental appointment, alarming her parents. About a month later, her skeletal remains were discovered scattered across an area along Braun Road. Her murder would eventually become part of a series connected to Larry Ralston, an Ohio serial killer and rapist.
Ralston’s known victims included Harmon as well as Nancy Grigsby, Mary Ruth Hopkins, Elaina Bear, and Diane Sue McCrobie. Historical court records confirm Ralston confessed to the strangulation murder of 15-year-old Elaina Bear, whose body was discovered in a creek bed after she disappeared in January 1977.
Woody walks through the disappearances and murders of the young women, including 22-year-old Nancy Grigsby, 15-year-old Elaina Bear and 16-year-old Diane Sue McCrobie.
The break in the investigation came after three teenage girls reported that a man had abducted and raped them in September 1977. Ralston was arrested later that year, and investigators began connecting him to the murders.
He was convicted of Elaina Bear’s murder in 1978 and initially sentenced to death. That sentence was later converted to life imprisonment following changes to Ohio’s death-penalty law. Additional murder convictions and rape sentences followed. He later pleaded guilty to the 1976 murder of Mary Ruth Hopkins.
Woody is particularly frustrated by the fact that Ralston eventually became eligible for parole despite multiple murder convictions. His bids for release have repeatedly been opposed by victims’ families and denied.
The larger question hanging over the story is whether Ralston may have been responsible for additional unsolved murders in the Cincinnati area during that period. Woody believes investigators knew of far fewer victims than Ralston actually had—but that remains speculation, not an established victim count.
F’d Up Professionals: A Nearly $24 Million Postal Check-Theft Scheme
Next, Woody heads to Houston for an F’d Up Professionals story involving people entrusted with something millions of Americans use every day: the U.S. mail.
Federal prosecutors have charged five Houston-area defendants in a conspiracy involving approximately $24 million in stolen checks.
The indictment names Tryston Tremaine Vaughn, Catherine Clauzelle Kilpatrick, Drakkor Jamar Alexander, Malcolm Tiree Joubert, and Alyssa Nadine Bryant. Kilpatrick, Alexander and Joubert worked as U.S. Postal Service mail carriers.
Prosecutors allege Vaughn recruited postal workers to remove checks from mail along their routes. Those stolen checks were then allegedly offered to buyers through Telegram and shipped to purchasers.
According to the Justice Department, the scheme involved approximately $24 million worth of checks. Individual stolen checks allegedly included amounts in the tens of thousands of dollars, while one was valued at approximately $1.5 million.
Woody talks about the unusual authority of U.S. Postal Inspectors and the federal nature of crimes involving the mail before marveling at the size of the alleged scheme.
He also makes the obvious point: a million-dollar check is one piece of mail you probably want to keep very close tabs on.
All five defendants are accused at this stage, and the charges have not been proven in court.
Two Women Suffer Broken Jaws During Argument Over a Dog
Then Woody stays in Ohio for an assault case involving Antoine James, 38.
According to court records, an argument began over James’ dog allegedly being sold without his permission. Prosecutors say James punched one woman repeatedly and then attacked a second woman when she attempted to intervene.
Both women reportedly suffered fractured jaws.
James faces charges including felonious assault, assault and aggravated menacing.
Woody uses the case to talk about something his own father taught him from childhood: anger does not justify putting your hands on a woman.
Worldwide Crime: Deadly Sword Attack at a Swedish School
For Worldwide Crime, Woody heads to Fagersta, Sweden, where a sword attack at Brinell School left a 17-year-old girl dead and three boys injured.
The alleged attacker has since been publicly identified as 18-year-old Liam Nebel. Current Swedish reporting says Nebel was a student at the school. He is accused of attacking students with a sword before police confronted and arrested him.
Two teenage boys suffered serious injuries, while another injured student was treated and released. Police were also investigating online material potentially connected to the attack.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited Fagersta following the attack and joined the country in mourning the victim and supporting the injured students, their families, and school staff.
Woody’s point is that horrific mass violence does not require a firearm. In this case, the accused attacker allegedly walked into a school armed with a sword.
F’d Up Professionals: Aiken High School Assistant Principal Arrested
Back in Cincinnati, Steven Barton, a 43-year-old assistant principal at Aiken New Tech High School, has been charged with felony sexual battery involving a 16-year-old student.
The criminal complaint alleges Barton sexually touched the student in a confined area of the school. Investigators say surveillance video and statements made during the investigation corroborated portions of the student’s account.
Police are also investigating whether there could be additional victims. Barton pleaded not guilty and received a $75,000 bond. Cincinnati Public Schools removed him from duty while the criminal and district investigations continue.
Woody focuses on the position of trust involved. Teachers, administrators, coaches, clergy, doctors, police officers and others who have authority over children have a heightened responsibility to protect them—not exploit that access.
Louisiana Sued Again Over Keeping People Locked Up Past Release Dates
The final story hits much closer to home.
A new federal lawsuit accuses the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections of continuing to hold people in custody after their lawful release dates.
The lawsuit, filed by attorneys with the Promise of Justice Initiative, names Louisiana corrections secretary Gary Westcott among the defendants and alleges that more than 1,200 people were unlawfully overdetained during the period covered by the complaint.
This is not a brand-new concern. Previous federal findings and litigation have documented Louisiana’s long-running problems calculating and implementing release dates.
And on this issue, Woody is unequivocal.
A person may have committed a crime. They may have deserved the sentence they received. But once that lawful sentence is finished, the government does not get to invent additional days in prison.
If a judge says a person’s sentence ends on a certain date, Woody says the state’s job should be to have that person ready to walk out on that date—not days, weeks or months later because of paperwork or administrative failures.
He closes by acknowledging that America’s justice system is imperfect while maintaining that accountability must apply in every direction—including to the government itself.
Woody signs off as host of True Crime Time For Thursday, September 3, 2026.
True Crime Time For, Real Life Real Crime, Woody Overton, Larry Ralston, Linda Kay Harmon, Nancy Grigsby, Mary Ruth Hopkins, Elaina Bear, Diane Sue McCrobie, Ohio serial killer, Cincinnati murders, Tryston Tremaine Vaughn, Catherine Clauzelle Kilpatrick, Drakkor Jamar Alexander, Malcolm Tiree Joubert, Alyssa Nadine Bryant, USPS, postal worker fraud, stolen checks, mail theft, Houston crime, Antoine James, Fagersta Sweden, Brinell School, Liam Nebel, Sweden sword attack, Steven Barton, Aiken High School, sexual battery, Gary Westcott, Louisiana Department of Corrections, Promise of Justice Initiative, overdetention, true crime podcast
- Larry Ralston
- Linda Kay Harmon
- Nancy Grigsby
- Mary Ruth Hopkins
- Elaina Bear
- Diane Sue McCrobie
- Ohio serial murders
- Parole for violent offenders
- Houston postal workers
- Nearly $24 million stolen-check scheme
- Tryston Tremaine Vaughn
- Catherine Clauzelle Kilpatrick
- Drakkor Jamar Alexander
- Malcolm Tiree Joubert
- Alyssa Nadine Bryant
- Antoine James
- Fagersta school attack
- Liam Nebel
- Brinell School
- Steven Barton
- Aiken New Tech High School
- Abuse of positions of trust
- Louisiana overdetention lawsuit
- Gary Westcott
- Prison release dates
- Larry Ralston was convicted in a series of murders and sexual assaults involving young women in Ohio, and families have continued fighting against his release decades later.
- The Houston mail case is even larger than the transcript’s shorthand suggests: the Justice Department says the indictment involves approximately $24 million in stolen checks, with three USPS carriers among the five defendants.
- The accused Swedish school attacker now has a publicly reported name: Liam Nebel. A 17-year-old girl was killed and three boys were wounded in the August 21 sword attack at Brinell School.
- Steven Barton is the correct name of the Aiken assistant principal charged with sexual battery involving a student; “Kyle Stephen Barton” in the transcript was a transcription error.
- Woody’s position on Louisiana’s overdetention problem cuts across the usual tough-on-crime debate: serve the sentence the court imposed—no less, but also no more.
- The episode begins and ends with the same principle that applies to RLRC’s own ongoing cases: credible information has to be investigated carefully, even when waiting for the result is frustrating.
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