152: Embezzlement and Sisters

Let's Go To Court!

Rita Crundwell had just about everything. She owned multiple properties. A kick ass RV. 400 horses. A freezer full of horse semen. How did she support herself? Well, that depended on who you asked. Some people thought her parents had been early investors in Campbell’s Soup. Other people thought her side hustle brought in good money. One thing was certain -- Rita’s salary as the treasurer of Dixon, Illinois, wasn’t enough to cover her lavish lifestyle.

Then Brandi tells us a terrible story that begins in a doublewide trailer in Florida. The bank had recently foreclosed on the trailer. Neighbors said that the two sisters who occupied it hadn’t been there in months. But when a father and son crew arrived to clean it out, they discovered a horrible stench. The body of Debbie Burns had been wrapped in several blankets and a shower curtain. Her sister/caretaker, Barbara, was nowhere to be found.

And now for a note about our process. For each episode, Kristin reads a bunch of articles, then spits them back out in her very limited vocabulary. Brandi copies and pastes from the best sources on the web. And sometimes Wikipedia. (No shade, Wikipedia. We love you.) We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the real experts who covered these cases.

In this episode, Kristin pulled from:

The documentary “All the Queen’s Horses”

“Rita Crundwell” entry on Wikipedia

In this episode, Brandi pulled from:

“The Saint: Barbara Burns was devoted to her disabled sister” by Lane DeGregory, Tampa Bay Times

“The Sacrifice: Barbara Burns wanted her life back, so she took another” by Lane DeGregory, Tampa Bay Times

“She cared for her sister her whole life. Then she killed her.” by Lane DeGregory, Tampa Bay Times